Return - Rewrite
by Luke Skywalker
Summary: AU A/P Set during ROTS. The Son used his future to turn him, but The Father made him forget. Though it was meant to be his downfall, Anakin's dark future is just what the Force needs to save him from himself. This is a rewrite of an old story, more details inside, rating changed to T.
1. Prologue

**Hello dear readers, I have returned!**

 **It has been a while since I posted anything on this site, and I find that I have sorely missed it. However, rather than coming up with a whole new story, with** _ **Star Wars: The Force Awakens**_ **' release date drawing ever closer, I decided to have a look through my published pieces and found this one, and after having a read through decided to have a go at rewriting it to make** _ **Return**_ **not only more canonical, but also to enhance the storytelling and characters to be more of what I originally wanted them to be.**

 **I hope you all enjoy, updates hopefully weekly!**

 _ **The Son used his future to turn him, but the Father made him forget. Though it was meant to be his downfall, Anakin's dark future is just what the Force needs to save him from himself**_ **.**

 **Set directly after the events in** _ **Revenge of the Sith**_ **when Chancellor Palpatine reveals his true identity to Anakin, The Chosen One informs Mace Windu of the Sith Lord hiding in plain sight. As Mace races to arrest the dark Chancellor, Anakin waits.**

PROLOGUE

The wind on his face did nothing to quell the flow of tears down his cheeks as Anakin Skywalker raced towards 500 Republica. He had been betrayed, had his heart tugged out of his chest and set alight by one who had claimed to be his friend. That friend, in reality, was everything he had sworn to destroy, a Sith and a traitor, but Anakin's two minds were at odds. He needed sanctuary, he needed reassurance, and the Jedi Temple offered him neither. He released a shaky sigh as he pulled up to the opened terrace, wiping futilely at the track marks on his tanned face as he saw his wife rush from the upper window. Anakin stepped out of his speeder as Padmé approached him, her expression falling instantly into one of worry when she saw the unshed tears glistening in her husbands' eyes.

"Anakin?"

He choked back a sob and sniffed at her words, and she opened her arms to him. He pulled her tight to him, resting his face in the hollow between her gorgeous neck and shoulder, seemingly made just for him. Even through her voluminous dress he felt his child kick, reaching out for him, and he was suddenly wracked with sobs. Surprised and confused, Padmé tangled one hand in her husband's hair at the nape of his neck while the other rubbed his back soothingly.

"Oh Anakin, what's happened?" she begged, her voice shaking with anxiety. The last time she had seen him so distraught, he had confessed to the massacre of a small Tusken village in his mother's name. "Please, Anakin."

"It's him," he breathed. Padmé's grip on her husbands' body tightened at the anguish in the small whisper.

"What's him?"

"The Chancellor," he said with a bit more volume in his voice, his sobs having subsided as he pulled out of his wife's embrace to face her deep brown eyes as he revealed to her the greatest betrayal. "The Chancellor is the Sith Lord we've been looking for. He orchestrated the Clone Wars to gain power, manipulated us into carrying out violence in the name of peace, and…" Anakin paused, placing his hand absently on Padmé's cheek as she stared up at him. "… and he knows about us. About the baby."

Padmé gasped and brought her hand protectively to her stomach. "Anakin, are you sure?"

Anakin nodded slowly, another silent tear sliding down his face. "In not so many words, he told me he has the power to save you, power the Jedi don't possess."

"Do you believe him?"

Anakin's gaze fell to the floor as he moved past her to the couch just inside the living quarters. "I don't know," he admitted before sinking into the cushions and letting his head fall into his hands. Though his leather glove no longer felt strange, against his face, now it suddenly felt foreign as his mind raced. Everything within him screamed that what Palpatine had said was true. He was powerful, he was dangerous, and he was evil. But the part of the young conflicted Jedi that refused to be silent was his fear, his fear that he would lose Padmé as in his dream, and that all he had to live for would die with her. In response, Anakin's intuition screamed back, insisting that just as the Chancellor had manipulated a galaxy into fruitless war, so was he also using its greatest warrior – the Hero with No Fear who in fact feared the most deeply.

As a headache began to manifest itself, Anakin felt the softest of touches on his hands, slowly prying them from his face, and the fearful Anakin screamed again. He looked at the beauty that was his moon and stars, his Angel, and he knew he couldn't face a galaxy without her.

"What are you going to do?" she asked silently. Anakin looked down at their joined hands and grasped hers tighter, his flesh hand bringing one to his lips. He couldn't live without her, but even if Palpatine was telling the truth about his power, could he live knowing he owed that liar and false mentor his life?

"Master Windu is apprehending the Chancellor now," he finally said. "I was told to wait, but I have such a bad feeling that everything is going to crumble, Padmé." He lifted his watery blue eyes to hers. "I can't lose you, but I just…"

Padmé squeezed her husbands' hand and threaded their fingers together. She took a deep breath, knowing that her next words would be those he needed, but not ones he wanted. "You're not going to lose me, Ani."

He sighed, agitated by her refusal to take what he felt was reality seriously. Why couldn't she see that if he did nothing that she would die, and he with her? She wasn't done.

"Don't live by 'what ifs' and 'what might be', Ani," she said in her best Senatorial voice, the one she used when she needed to make an opponent see her way, and it almost never failed her. "I'm here, and I'm not going to leave you. If the Chancellor is what you say he is, then you need to go, bring him in, and end this." Padmé brought her hand to Anakin's cheek, turning his gaze back to her from where it had fallen. "I know Obi-Wan tells you this all the time, but trust in the Force."

Despite the situation, he chuckled at her, allowing himself to revel in the calm she brought him. He leaned in and gave her a tender kiss, resting his hand on her stomach, and he felt his child move. His calm gave him clarity, and though he feared the repercussions of his actions, Anakin couldn't deny the tug from the Force that beckoned him where Master Windu had bade him not to go.

"I love you," he said softly, pulling away as he placed a kiss on his wife's forehead and leaned down to rest his forehead momentarily where her body sheltered their child.

"And I love you, Ani."

"I have to go."

She simply nodded as he stood, the tears suddenly appearing unbidden in her eyes as she watched him walk back to his speeder. She leapt up, calling to him, and he turned, catching her as she flew into his strong arms. "Be careful." He nodded against her mass of curls, pressed a kiss to her lips, and stepped into the vehicle that was still running, looking at her one last time as he sped towards the Senate Rotunda.

Immediately upon his departure, the calm she had given him began to dissolve, and the familiar fear and doubt began to set in once more. His recently clear thoughts clouded as Padmé's helpless screams from his dream reverberated through his head, and Anakin felt his mind tear between Jedi wisdom and human fearfulness, as the Rotunda grew closer. If one thing was clear to Anakin as he pulled up and jumped onto the docking platform, it was the cold of the Dark Side from within and the still veiled tug from the Force growing stronger, pulling him into the Chancellor's office.

The door swooshed open, and Anakin was assaulted by the stench of death. Looking down, he saw the still and dismembered bodies of Masters Fisto, Tiin, and Kolar, and he stiffened in his tracks, his anxiety spiking. These were three of the strongest, wisest Jedi Masters Anakin knew outside of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Mace, and to be cut down by this Sith caused Anakin's stomach to turn. Palpatine was indeed powerful.

"You are under arrest, My Lord." Mace Windu's voice pulled Anakin from his mournful thoughts, and the young knight took in the sight of the Vaapad master towering over the seemingly defeated Sith Lord, who lay perilously close to the edge of the shattered window. As Anakin approached the pair, he felt the Force, which side he couldn't tell, digging into him, and the pain in his head spread from his neck to his forehead.

"Anakin!" Palpatine sounded relieved to see his mentee. "I told you it would come to this. I was right. The Jedi are taking over!"

"The oppression of the Sith will never return," Mace countered, his violet blade steady in his hand. "You have lost."

Anakin breathed deeply as the Dark Side began to spark, almost drawing his breath from his lungs with its power, alluring in its intensity, and the Sith let loose a violent attack of Force charged lightning the likes of which Anakin had never seen. However, he couldn't deny the strange sense of déjà vu overcoming him ignited by the powerful sparks as Palpatine and Mace declared each other to be traitors. Something was screaming at him to help, but which one of them he couldn't distinguish, and his heart pounded with conflict.

"I have the power to save the one you love," Palpatine wheezed, appealing to Anakin's weakest part – his fear. "You must choose!"

"Don't listen to him, Anakin," Mace barely pleaded as the lightning continued to assault him, held at bay by only the master's will and blade.

There was that tug again, more powerful than the last, and Anakin put his hand to his head as his headache intensified. Anakin vaguely heard the Chancellor claiming weakness, but as he reached out to him, the Force spoke only of deception. His lies continued to plague the encounter, and Anakin was only brought back to the scene as the lightning dissipated, looking at the victorious Jedi Master through the mist of his throbbing head to see Palpatine breathing hard and begging for his help. He was unarmed, and Anakin could sense his strength waning, regardless if his claims of weakness were lies.

"I am going to end this once and for all," Mace affirmed, and Anakin's head shot up, far from clear, but sure that the master's insinuation meant death for everything he loved.

"You can't," Anakin finally spoke, and though Mace was clearly shocked to hear his voice, he kept his eyes trained on the deceptive politician. "He must…" Anakin wavered, the pain of the Force's tug stilling his words and he shook his head in an attempt to quell the increasing pain. "He must stand trial."

"He has control of the Senate and the Courts," Mace argued. "He's too dangerous to be left alive."

"It's not the Jedi way," Anakin countered, hoping against hope that appealing to the master's sense of Jedi duty would buy Palpatine at least his life in a cell, one that he could visit and learn how to save his wife. His eyes began to water, as the pain in his head grew stronger and strangely localized, almost as though searching. It was unbearable, but Anakin kept his wits, barely. "He must live."

The conflict on Mace's face was lost to Anakin as his head began to swim, the Force's tug reaching its peak as the pain became excruciating. Out of Anakin's vision, Mace prepared a death strike. "I need…" Anakin whimpered, but before he could finish, he felt something burst open, and with a roar of agony, Anakin fell to his knees, holding his head that felt as though locked in a vice as unclear images from Force knows where assaulted his every sense.

Startled by Anakin's sudden scream, Mace paused his blade and glanced at the young Jedi, leaving Palpatine with an opening. More quickly than Mace could react, the Sith called his fallen lightsaber to his hand, the weapon ascending from its hundred story fall at breakneck speed. The moment it hit its master's palm, Palpatine was on his feet, and he Force threw Mace across his office, cracked his joints, and stalked the stunned Jedi Master. The violet and crimson blades crisscrossed once more as Anakin continued to rock in pain on his knees.

As quickly as they had flooded his mind, the images slowed and steadied themselves, becoming clearer to Anakin as the pain gradually subsided to a dull throb. He saw himself, two years younger, alongside Ahsoka and Obi-Wan in the cockpit of their ship approaching a strange, otherworldly looking object. Suddenly, they were on the surface of a planet engulfed in the blanket of the Force. He saw a luminescent sprite, the Living Force flowing through her, making up her very being. She was beautiful. Suddenly, her light was extinguished by nothing short of pure darkness, the face of which Anakin now met in a burning scape.

"Know yourself," the smooth voice of darkness beckoned as more images began to invade his mind. "Know what you will become."

A whispering in the Force told Anakin of the truth of what he was seeing as he realized that he was witnessing a past he had been made to forget: The Daughter, The Father, The Son, Mortis, and his own fall into darkness and despair.

The Son's future consumed him, and Anakin saw nothing but death and destruction. He saw himself, now, in the Chancellor's office striking down Mace Windu and pledging himself to Palpatine, who was freshly cloaked in the darkness he breathed. Anakin saw him and the 501st marching on the Temple, slaughtering every Jedi in their path, including the younglings he held so dear. The burning world returned and Padmé stood before him, begging for him to run away with her, but he would not listen, instead offering her power beyond her wildest imaginings, but not love. As Obi-Wan appeared at the gangplank of her ship, a great anger at her seeming betrayal caused him to raise his hand, seizing her throat in a death grip. Tears fell as he choked the life from her eyes, but Obi-Wan's stern voice made him release her.

The brothers fought, and Anakin fell, burned alive and beyond recognition as his old master shed tears and picked up his lightsaber from the obsidian ground. "You were my brother, Anakin," he sobbed. "I loved you." The new Emperor picked him up and encased him in a black suit that made his breathing mechanical and terrifying, but unlike The Son's visions, the Force wasn't through with Anakin yet.

Transported to a watery world, Anakin witnessed the birth of his twins and felt the despair and longing in his wife, as she died while Luke, his son, begged for his mother. Her death was because of Anakin, his darkness, his weakness to his fear. He had failed her.

The ensuing images of a future Anakin didn't think he could bear were a blur of death, screams, and blood spilled by his hand at Palpatine's whim, as he brought fear to the peoples of the galaxy. He saw his torture of a beautiful brunette that the Force whispered to him was his daughter, Obi-Wan's death at his hands in front of a young blonde man, Luke, and the maiming of his son before he revealed the truth of his parentage and the boy fell.

Consumed by the darkness he saw, Anakin felt like giving up as Padmé had, letting it all go and refusing to live this future. But, even as it showed him his dark fate, the Force soothed and continued in its quest, opening his mind to the reality of the Light's strength over the overwhelming Dark. He saw Luke again, older, stronger, a Jedi. He stood over his father who wheezed in defeat, and Palpatine commanded the young Jedi to take his place by his side. The conflict written on his son's face was powerful as he contemplated the mechanical hand his father had given him in conjunction with Anakin's own metal appendage. Never, not even on his wedding night had Anakin been so conscious of it as he was now as he watched Luke regroup, extinguish his emerald saber, and toss it at Palpatine's feet. "I'll never turn to the Dark Side," he said with a conviction not to be questioned. Luke took a step. "You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

Anakin felt the Light pulse through his son, even as Palpatine let loose a barrage of Force lighting so powerful it knocked Luke to the floor. As Anakin watched the Sith Lord he called Master slowly work to extinguish the bright life that was his son, Anakin felt himself clawing his way out of his dark cage, willing himself to be engulfed in the Light once more as he picked up the Emperor and threw him to his death while sealing his own.

Slowly, the images faded, the fog of his inundated brain receded, and Anakin drew a sudden, sharp breath of air he didn't know he had been denying himself. He would do such terrible things, all in the name of saving a wife who didn't need saving as he had been led to believe, he saw that now. Carefully, Anakin stood from painful knees to shaky legs. The sounds of a vigorous lightsaber duel pulled him fully back to reality as he allowed what he had seen to resonate and sink in. He turned just as Mace Windu, battered but not yet broken, was disarmed by the disfigured Sith Lord, and Palpatine used his lightning to push Mace to his knees before him.

As Palpatine raised his crimson blade over his head, Anakin realized what he must do to keep his son from the future he had witnessed, he saw it shining before him as brightly as the twin sunrise on his home world, and he would not fail. With a surge of Light energy he had only ever felt when he brought Ahsoka back from the brink of death on Mortis, Anakin leapt forward just as Palpatine brought his saber down, and the Sith's blade only met azure resistance as Anakin blocked Mace from his grizzly fate. Teeth gritted, Anakin used Palpatine's surprise against him, and with a power only the Light Side could grant him, Anakin flung the Sith's saber up and away into his waiting hand and Force Pushed Palpatine against his desk, holding him captive as Anakin breathed calmly for the first time in hours.

"You fool," Palpatine thundered as Anakin stepped closer, bringing his lightsaber to bear on the enemy. "I could have given you everything at my side!"

Towering over him, Anakin's breath didn't falter as he raised his blade, Palpatine coiling in fear as he felt the Light pulsing through his would be apprentice, pushing away what little darkness was left. Before he struck, Anakin raised his chin and uttered the most important words he had heard tonight.

"I am a Jedi."

Striking true, Anakin sliced through Palpatine's neck, severing his head from his body, and the Dark Side fizzled with the loss of its greatest servant. Just as Anakin saw the Sith's head roll to the floor and his body collapse, he felt his head swim again, and a different kind of darkness overcame his body as his blue blade retracted and the hero of the Republic sank to the floor with a resounding thud.

Reeling from all he had just witnessed, Mace Windu clutched his wounded side and quickly made his way to Anakin across the floor. He turned Anakin from his face down landing onto his back, and as the master held the knight's head in his hands, he saw Anakin's blue eyes were rolled back in his head. Mace felt for a pulse, but found only a weak thudding at his fingertips on Anakin's throat. More calmly than he felt, Mace pulled out his comlink.

"This is Master Windu calling all healers. Anakin Skywalker is down and needs immediate medical attention." As the affirmative response came and Mace relayed their location, he dropped his comlink and placed his hand on Anakin's sweat drenched forehead. He reached into the Force, begging for Anakin's life as he waited for the healers to arrive.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Obi-Wan punched the throttle of his starfighter harder despite his inner anti-pilot screaming the same apprehensive tune as his R4 unit. He danced in and out of Coruscant's midday traffic flow, feeling the Force urging him towards his destination. With his mission on Utapau complete, Grievous dead, and the droid armies all but stalled, Obi-Wan should be relieved, happy even to realize that, at long last, the war was over. The Republic had triumphed. Instead, he felt only worry and apprehension as he drew closer to the Jedi Temple, his home.

Master Windu's response to his victory over the droid commander had been calm and silently triumphant, telling Obi-Wan to aid in clean up efforts on the planet. The master's unexpected message several hours later, in the dark of Utapau's early night, had been clipped, and Obi-Wan didn't miss the bruising and bandages adorning Windu's holoimage. However, he would not tell Obi-Wan what had happened, only that he needed to return to the Temple immediately. Sensing a massive disturbance in the Force associated with Windu's urging, The Negotiator left Cody to deal with the planet, and had burst through Utapau's atmosphere at speeds he hadn't known he could utilize. He had always hated flying, but something was pushing him to let his feelings on the matter go, and to fly home with haste.

Obi-Wan finally landed at the Temple, met by a grim looking Ki-Adi-Mundi and a battered Windu. He sprung out of his fighter the moment the canopy opened and faced his fellow council members. "What's going on?" he demanded without ceremony, but neither Mundi nor Windu flinched.

"Come with us, Obi-Wan," Mace offered. "We will tell you on the way."

Obi-Wan nodded, and he fell into step alongside the two masters. "Looks like I missed a good brawl," he prodded, though his usual humor was hampered by the grief radiating off the pair. Mace met his gaze beside him.

"Indeed you did, Obi-Wan, a brawl to end them all." The master sighed and began to relate the whole tale of Chancellor Palpatine's revelation as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, his fellow masters deaths, and how Anakin had saved them all. At the mention of Anakin's name, a sharp stab of something skittered along Obi-Wan's skin, igniting the undefined anxiety that had lingered with him since Utapau. Even as he felt a spike of overwhelming pride at his former pupil's heroic deeds, Obi-Wan couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

"So, Palpatine was the Sith Lord all along," he decided to remark, keeping his worry to himself for the moment. "How did we miss it?"

"Perhaps we became too comfortable in our own power that we refused to acknowledge how deeply the Dark Side had clouded everything," Mundi hypothesized.

"Perhaps," Mace agreed. "We will have to meditate on these events and, if necessary, examine ourselves."

As the trio turned a corner in the eerily silent Temple corridors, Obi-Wan suddenly realized where they were taking him, and his heart leapt. He stopped in his tracks, forcing the other two to halt their steps.

"Masters," he said quietly, "where is Anakin?"

As the two Jedi Masters gave each other mournful looks, Obi-Wan knew his answer was down the hall, and without thinking, he pushed past Mundi and began jogging into the Healer's Wing. His escorts didn't try to stop him, allowing the master to find out for himself.

Following his instincts, Obi-Wan turned corner after corner, looking lost to anyone but an attuned Jedi, until he felt the Force telling him to stop. A glazed glass door met his strides, and Obi-Wan attempted to swallow the lump in his throat that he hadn't felt since Satine's death. He touched the door, and it quietly slid open at his touch. Obi-Wan gasped and gripped the door frame, the vision of his former apprentice chillingly white and uncharacteristically still something he would remember forever. Barely noticing his slow steps, Obi-Wan approached Anakin's bed, hearing the heart monitor's reassuring rhythm as he reached Anakin and looked him over.

Not a scratch could be seen, leaving Obi-Wan puzzled. His friend looked no worse for wear, despite his unnaturally wan tone, and certainly not as though he had dueled a powerful Sith Lord. Obi-Wan placed his hand gently on Anakin's forehead and reached into the Force, seeking anything that would give him a clue. He delved into Anakin's mind, and what he felt made him pull back his hand as his eyes began to burn.

Nothing.

He felt nothing.

"He's in a coma, Obi-Wan." The dark skinned master's deep voice surprised Obi-Wan, and he spun to see Mace and Mundi standing respectfully in the doorway. Blinking back his tears and wiping the unnoticed ones away, Obi-Wan turned back to his friend.

"What happened?" he pleaded again, and he heard Mace shuffle a little closer to him.

"We don't know." Obi-Wan continued to stare at Anakin's face, noticing for the first time the almost flat line of the brain activity monitor, and his heart sank. "Anakin was incredible, showed amazing strength that resonated within the Force. But, when he killed Palpatine, he simply collapsed, as if he had been suddenly switched off," Mace continued. "I can't explain it, but as soon as we could get him here, he was like this, and he hasn't changed." Obi-Wan sniffed and wiped at his rebellious eyes, embarrassed by his inability to control his emotions. "We don't know when, or if he'll come out of it, but the healers are doing everything they can."

Obi-Wan nodded his understanding, but he refused to let himself entertain the possibility that he would never see Anakin's cocky grin, hear his endearing chuckle, or know his powerful friendship ever again. No, Anakin was stronger than anyone could possibly guess, his master could feel it. He had to trust in his brother, trust in the Force.

As he placed his hand tenderly on Anakin's shoulder, clothed in the thin, blue healing gown, he became slowly aware of a distant chime. Shaking himself at least half way out of his stupor, Obi-Wan realized that someone was calling him, his comlink lighting up insistently. He blinked, removed his hand, and made an excuse to leave the room for a moment, missing the tiny, imperceptible spike on the screen monitoring Anakin's brain that went unnoticed by all.

"Kenobi," he answered once he was in the alluringly light hallway once more and away from his brother's perilous condition.

"Master Kenobi." The Jedi felt the lump constricting his voice grow even more so as the one person he hadn't wished to call him waited patiently on the other end of the line.

"Senator Amidala," he choked, wishing beyond hope that his well of emotional turmoil would pass for signal interference. He knew Anakin and the senator were close, and he suddenly dreaded telling her anything of his condition, running a hand down his face in unease. Unfortunately for Obi-Wan, the senator was far more intuitive than he wanted her to be at the moment.

"Obi-Wan? Are you all right?" she asked, and the master flinched around his constricted throat.

"Fine, Senator. What can I help you with?"

"Obi-Wan, we've been friends for far too long, I can tell when you're lying to me." Obi-Wan sighed. He had been caught. "I was hoping you could shed some light on what's going on. I turned on the HoloNews this morning, and it's all stories and speculation that Chancellor Palpatine was revealed to be a Sith, that he is dead, and that Anakin killed him." Obi-Wan glanced at Mace, but the master was still. Apparently, Obi-Wan was on his own with this one.

"Senator, where are you?"

"I'm at the Rotunda, but everything is blocked off and I can't get in. We're all standing here no wiser than we were a few hours ago."

"Padmé, I suggest you meet me at your apartment, I will explain everything there." Obi-Wan placed his best impassive face on as he nodded to the two masters, glanced briefly at Anakin's room, and began the walk back to his starfighter. He heard Padmé release a shaky sigh and he could hear her walking, too.

"Obi-Wan," she whispered as if hiding a secret, "is Anakin all right?"

Obi-Wan paused in his steps and shook his head in a futile attempt to clear it of his overwhelming and sudden pain.

"I'll meet you at your apartment, Senator." With that, he ended the call and climbed wearily back into the cockpit, leaving the Temple behind at half the speed at which he had arrived.

Settling into the natural flow of traffic, growing steadily heavier the closer he drew to the Senate district, Obi-Wan began planning what he was going to say, but much to his dismay and frustration, the words wouldn't come. What could he say when he was still processing the new state of his life and how drastically it had changed in less than a full day? The Clone Wars were over, General Grievous was dead, Chancellor Palpatine… Darth Sidious was dead, and Anakin was… he couldn't finish the thought. Even the renowned Jedi Healers didn't know what Anakin was, but Obi-Wan had to hold onto the hope, however dim it may be, that his friend would live to celebrate the heroism he demonstrated and the Mastership he was sure to gain. Obi-Wan wasn't going to give up, and steeling his resolve on that conclusion, he arrived at 500 Republica, still without a word in his head.

Padmé was already waiting for him, pacing in her living room attached to the opened veranda. Dressed in a flowing, heavy looking gown of the deepest purple velvet, her hair held up on the back of her head by a crescent shaped clip, she was every inch the physical image of Senator Amidala. But, in her movements, her wringing hands and bit lip, he saw Padmé, his friend who worried about everything whether she had a say in it or not. The moment he pulled up to her balcony, Padmé started and rushed expectantly to meet him as his feet touched down. Surprisingly, she hugged him briefly, relief flooding towards him from her to see a friendly face, and as she pulled away she sought his gaze and held it firmly.

"I'm so pleased you're all right, Obi-Wan," she said and motioned for him to follow her inside. They both remained standing, far too wound to sit and feel comfortable. Not a word fell between them as Padmé studied her friend and Obi-Wan uncharacteristically fidgeted under such a gaze. Finally, Padmé swallowed. "Tell me the truth, please. I have people looking to me for answers because of my close relationship to the Jedi, and I have nothing for them." Obi-Wan shifted and met her firm but warm eyes.

"What do you want to know?" Padmé clasped her hands together in front of her, her well-practiced senatorial mask washing over her face, but the Jedi Master knew that underneath he was still dealing with his worried friend.

"The Chancellor," she began cautiously, pausing before continuing quietly, "was he a Sith?"

Obi-Wan nodded, knowing she would settle for nothing less than the whole truth. He dreaded what he knew would eventually come, but for now, he could keep his face at least somewhat impassive until the inevitable subject was raised.

"Yes. According to Master Windu, he revealed himself to Anakin, and Master Windu went to apprehend the Chancellor."

Padmé nodded. "And what happened? There are some disturbing whispers amongst the staunchest Separatist supporters that the Jedi are going to declare martial law."

Obi-Wan fought the instinct to roll his eyes at that one. Typical Sith deception. "Master Windu and three others went to his offices and declared him under arrest. Regrettably, only Master Windu survived when Palpatine resisted." Padmé gasped, but Obi-Wan continued. "Although he was told to wait for news, Anakin arrived to help, and after a struggle, Anakin defeated Palpatine, ending the threat once and for all."

Again, Padmé nodded, but much more slowly than before, absorbing everything. "How brave," she said, and he nodded. She smiled softly. "He's always been reckless, hasn't he?" The silence that followed her statement was less than comfortable as Obi-Wan tried to clamp down on his emotions at the mention of his friend's name. His discomfort grew as he began to feel that Padmé was working up to something, and though it was a small flicker, Obi-Wan saw the mask of Senator Amidala begin to dissolve as she drew breath, and he braced himself.

"And, Anakin?"

Obi-Wan forced his gaze not to drop, but he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering, partly to keep his pain hidden, but more so to keep himself from having to look at Padmé when he told her. He hesitated, and it was a bit too long.

"Obi-Wan?" The Jedi started at the emotion he heard in the senator's voice, and he pushed himself to look at her once more. She still clasped her hands, but they were higher and out towards him in supplication, begging for him to answer. Obi-Wan swallowed past the lump that still impeded his voice.

"He's in a coma, Padmé." Her face fell and Obi-Wan couldn't help but look at the floor, and as he continued he turned away, knowing that he wouldn't survive his explanation without shedding tears if he looked at her. "The Healers can't explain it, and neither can Master Windu. During their confrontation with Palpatine, Anakin suffered some sort of attack, which subsided just in time for him to save Master Windu and kill the Sith. But, as soon as he did, Anakin just collapsed." He paused, swallowed once more, and blinked back a tear that was threatening to fall. "I just saw him, Padmé. He has no brain activity and the Healers don't know what to do. They don't know if he'll ever come out of it."

A sharp sob cut through Obi-Wan's statement, and he turned back to his friend. She had clasped a hand to her face while the other hugged herself across the chest as her whole body was wracked with hard sobs. Though this was not the reaction he was expecting, certainly not from the strong Nubian senator, Obi-Wan's heart went out to her. He took a step to comfort her as best he could, but suddenly stopped as he took in Padmé's form more closely. How did he not see it before? From under her arm that wrapped tightly around her as she cried, Obi-Wan saw her stomach protruding far more prominently than for any petticoat or underskirt to be the culprit. He stood there stunned, his body refusing to act on this new piece of knowledge.

"Padmé?" he said quietly, and she slowly brought her head from her hand, but didn't turn to him, wiping furiously at the tears she had allowed to fall and clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan, I…" Her heart stopped as she took in the shocked look on his face, her eyes following his to where her secret had been revealed. She bit her lip, another tear falling unbidden, and she wiped her cheek red to rid her face of it. "I, uh…" She fought for words as she removed her hand and smoothed down her dress, attempting to disguise what he had seen, but knowing it would do no good.

He watched her straighten herself, his mind still working furiously to put pieces together he was certain were there for him to find. Her tears at Anakin's condition could be put down to hormones, but Obi-Wan wasn't so chauvinistic to believe it was only that. No, something deeper was going on, he could feel the Force telling him that much, something Padmé was still trying to shield him from despite his perfect eyesight. It hit him like the most powerful Force Push he had ever received, and once it did he couldn't believe he had been so blind.

"Anakin's the father, isn't he?"

Padmé's eyes darted towards him and he read deep pain and begrudging acknowledgment from her shining chocolate eyes. She steeled her face even as her eyes still clung to tears yet unshed and slowly nodded.

"How long?" he asked. She sniffed softly.

"Since Geonosis three and a half years ago." Obi-Wan stiffened as all his suspicions, all his underlying, denied beliefs about his former padawan were all perfectly founded and true, regardless of the lies he told himself to keep Anakin an honest Jedi in his mind. Finding her footing momentarily in the topic at hand, Padmé released all pretenses of hiding. "He's my husband, Obi-Wan."

The Jedi Master shut his eyes tight and sighed as his annoyance spiked, and the part of his mind that was Obi-Wan Kenobi, stoic, strict, ever faithful Jedi Master took over. He turned away from the Senator and found himself unconsciously digging the knuckles of his fist into the back of the couch.

"I knew Anakin was reckless, emotional, and even down right stupid sometimes," he said low and slow, stewing in his own anguish, shock, and was that anger? "But I expected more clarity and reason from you, Senator Amidala." He turned back to her, and their eyes met, his burning with more than a hint of betrayal while she looked almost prepared despite her sadness. Obi-Wan read the acceptance of his admonishment clearly in her watery eyes, and her unfazed, complete acknowledgement of her recognized transgressions radiating from her countenance caused something within him to snap. "How could you let him convince you that this was a good idea? I can only assume he is the more guilty party. He will be expelled!"

"I know," she whispered.

"Did either of you put any thought at all into what this would do to him as a Jedi? Any thought as to how he would be able to carry on if something happened to you in this war? Did you stop to wonder why exactly attachment in all its forms is forbidden by the Code? He could have turned, Senator, very nearly did from what I understand, and then where would we be?"

"I know." Another whisper.

Obi-Wan began pacing a small path in front of the couch, so caught up in his own shock that he didn't notice Padmé's tears. "Every time I pressed him, he assured me that you were just friends regardless of his obvious feelings for you, lying right to my face!" he exclaimed, more for his own ears as his blood boiled for every deceptive time Anakin had denied his deepest secret to him. "I just don't understand, with knowing how he is, his unpredictable nature, how you could have…"

"I love him, Obi-Wan!" Obi-Wan stopped pacing at the utter pain and sorrow he felt in her outburst. He glanced up at her and immediately felt his anger evaporate at the tear streaks on her cheeks. She clasped her hands to her forearms, hugging herself again and revealing the bump of Anakin's baby. "I love him, and he loves me. We tried to deny our feelings, but it took us to places we didn't want to go, and I know had we not given in and accepted what was between us that he would have ended up more bitter, more resentful, and it would have destroyed us both. We just…" she glanced down and wiped her eyes again. "… couldn't. I just love him so much, Obi-Wan…"

Considering the deception, the lies, Obi-Wan should have continued to act on his disappointment. After all, his former apprentice had broken the Code, and the smart, reasonable senator from Naboo had broken it with him. His incredibly by-the-book brain, however, was suddenly silenced by his wounded heart, and Obi-Wan felt a wave of compassion, empathy, and an overwhelming protectiveness settle over him as he silently assessed his friend's wife. For everything he had ever been taught and every lesson about the detriment of attachments to a Jedi, Obi-Wan couldn't find any more anger within him. Acceptance of a fact he couldn't change no matter what he said overrode all else with a sigh, and in two quick strides the Jedi Master took Padmé into his arms and held her.

He felt her stiffen in shock, but he continued to simply hold her until she finally held him back and began to sob once more. "I'm sorry," he apologized, as he rubbed her back soothingly as he used to do for Anakin as a child. In his heart, Obi-Wan knew he should continue to rage and cite the Code in all its glory. Unfortunately, Obi-Wan's subconscious reminded him, he wasn't immune to the idea of damning the Code's rules for someone he loved, and had he been more like Anakin and his own master, perhaps Obi-Wan would have given in to his strong attachment to a certain blonde Mandalorian duchess, regardless of the inevitable life of lies and hidden affection. He found himself not envious of Anakin and Padmé's life in the shadows, but he found, surprisingly, that neither did he begrudge them their choice. In fact, with Anakin's devoted service to the Republic and the Order during the Clone Wars, an argument could be placed for his attachment to Padmé being nothing but an underlined side note to his much deserved title as The Hero with No Fear. He may not always have been the most composed and rational Jedi in the Order, but that was just Anakin. Nothing could have changed that fact.

Obi-Wan felt Padmé's sobs begin to subside, and as she sniffed and whispered an apology of her own, Obi-Wan took her at arms length and led her to sit on the couch beside him. She wiped the last few stray tears away before Obi-Wan decided to speak.

"Married," he sighed in resign. She nodded and lowered her gaze. "It's times like this that I wish he could have found it in him to tell me," Obi-Wan mused aloud.

"We were afraid, Obi-Wan," she said and lifted her head once more. "That's not true. I was afraid. Anakin did want to tell you, had wanted to for a while, but I always talked him out of it. I couldn't bear it if he were expelled from the Order because of me."

Obi-Wan sighed. He understood perfectly well, and had circumstances not become what they are now, Obi-Wan might still agree with her. However, Anakin was now the Republic's biggest hero, and after everything, perhaps the Jedi, he, owed him the benefit of the doubt.

Padmé swallowed and turned to look out onto the turning late afternoon Coruscant skyline. "You're going to have to tell the Council."

"Yes." She sighed and nodded. "But, Padmé," she turned back to him, "you have my support. Anakin's been through so much, and I suppose that if he was married to you throughout this conflict, perhaps his attachment wasn't a hindrance."

Padmé looked at him agape at his statement, barely believing what she was hearing from the master who had only moments ago admonished her and her absent husband for following their hearts. "Do you think they'll go for that?"

"I don't know. But, so much has changed so quickly, I'm uncertain about quite a lot at the moment."

Padmé pursed her lips, and Obi-Wan could see her quick mind working. "Can I see him?" she finally asked very quietly and cautiously, not wanting to step on any toes.

"Of course." Obi-Wan squeezed her hand. "I can't promise an absence of whispers, but of course." Padmé smiled gratefully at her friend and he quirked a brow. "First though…" he said nervously, and she tilted her head in question. He held out his hand to her stomach. "May I?" Padmé smiled, took his hand, and laid it on her belly gently. Obi-Wan gasped at the strong Force presence he felt already, and his eyes misted ever so slightly in wonder, joy, and a small measure of sadness. He met Padmé's eyes and smiled widely at her. "They're beautiful," he said.

She gasped and clasped a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide, and Obi-Wan was suddenly worried he had overstepped some boundary. Only when she slowly lowered her hand and he saw her look of wonderment did he somewhat relax.

"They?"

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 **Thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing this story, hope you continue to like it!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry it's so late everyone, IRL commitments got the better of me unfortunately. Thank you all for your fabulous reviews, it's great to see you all enjoying the story as much as I am continuing to enjoy writing it!**

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CHAPTER 2

Two days. It had been two days, and he hadn't stirred – not a flutter, a sigh, a twitch, nothing. Padmé rubbed her eyes, raw but no longer red from tears, and she took her husband's still, limp hand once more. Two days she had sat here, waiting for any sign that Anakin would return to her, and still there had been no spike of life, not from the monitors and not from him. Besides the occasional healer attending to her husband and the equipment, giving her looks loaded with compassion and perhaps a tint of dislike, and Obi-Wan bringing her food and water, Padmé had blessedly been left to simply be with Anakin alone, something she was truly grateful for. Had the Jedi Masters chosen to not allow her in, holding their lofty ideals of attachment and love above a grieving, worried wife's head, she might have broke. But, the shock of the discovery of her and Anakin's three year old marriage as well as the lives she carried within her, it seemed, was enough for Obi-Wan, her protector, to lead her to Anakin's bedside undisturbed and unhindered, though she knew they spoke of Anakin's indiscretion when a ways outside the room and out of earshot.

It had been two days since Padmé had truly, fully become a wife, exposed for the whole of the Temple to know, and even behind these closed doors that's how she felt: exposed. Even if Anakin had wanted to reveal everything in times of stress, Padmé knew that exposure would have left them naked and vulnerable to the judgment of the strict Jedi, a feeling she was really not enjoying facing alone. Her self-consciousness was enough to drive a shy blush to her cheeks – however unconscious the reaction – and her hands to her belly protectively. At least she and Anakin had Obi-Wan on their side.

They were so lucky to have the unexpected and unwavering support of Anakin's former master. Padmé had been shocked by his ultimate acceptance, remembering Anakin telling her how Obi-Wan, quite a few times, had chastised him for his feelings for her. However, if her wildly facetious husband was to truly be believed, Obi-Wan and Mandalore's Satine Kryze had been close, so close, in fact, that they bickered like an old married couple. Padmé smiled at the thought of Obi-Wan "by the book" Kenobi having a secret affair of his own. Insane! Considering his show of support for Anakin and Padmé's marriage, however, even after his initial disappointment and shock, perhaps there had been an opportunity missed for the Duchess and the Jedi.

Padmé sighed as she changed her grip on Anakin's hand and looked into his face, looking for all the world to be asleep and no more. He looked so young, younger than his wife already thought he looked anyway. His face held neither worry nor stress in its rested state, and though his skin was slightly paler than normal, Padmé marveled at the inherent handsomeness of her beautiful husband. Two days. Two days of pondering everything from Obi-Wan's possible affair to what life would be like without Anakin Skywalker in her life, a thought that had caused the now dried tear stains on her husband's thin healer's gown and the starchy sheets. It was a thought that Padmé refused to ponder once she realized how far her despair had dropped her, and though she was practical and rational, she refused to give up on Anakin until the heart monitor fell flat. He would live, and she was determined to help as long as she could.

The past two days she had done everything – talked to him, read to him, she even tried singing to him though she knew it probably did no good. Sola got the singing voice in the Naberrie family, something Padmé had always envied. In the end, Padmé decided to simply sit with him when she found herself running out of things to say, and she would do so until she thought of something new to try.

Two days, but nothing. If talking, reading, singing, or sitting didn't work, Padmé didn't know what to do. She did all these things because she had heard that perhaps coma patients could hear outside stimuli even if they couldn't react to it, but it simply wasn't working. Padmé absentmindedly massaged a painful ache in her lower back next to her spine as she thought of what she could do. She squeezed her husband's hand as she hit the knot of pain, and let up as the pain did. She had been having back pains for a few hours now, but not enough to disturb her too much. She wasn't naïve, she knew that twins usually came early, and being within the first few weeks of her eighth month, Padmé had a sneaking suspicion that she didn't have much longer to wait. But, she vowed that even if she went into labor here by her husband's side that she would stay with him until she was forced out.

Padmé smiled sadly at the thought of her latest discovery: their twins. The moment Obi-Wan had told her, she had had to shake her head at her own ignorance. It was so obvious now – Anakin swearing he had felt a foot where there should have been a head, being bigger than she had expected, it all fell into place with Obi-Wan's double declaration, and as she sat quietly at Anakin's beside she had begun reading up on what to expect as well as ordering double what she already had on her list, though the sadness that tainted the joyous news could only be described as grief of such strength because her husband didn't know that it almost banished any joy from her heart. They were to be parents twice over, and Anakin may never know the exceeding joy she knew he would feel as he cradled both of his children safe against his chest.

"I think our twins might be ready to see the galaxy, Ani," she finally whispered as her back spiked in pain again, determined to say anything, do whatever she could to keep her mind from the ache in her back. She laced their fingers together and leaned forward slightly so she could run her fingers through Anakin's loose curls. She stroked his scalp in a soothing manner, just how he liked it, the way his mother used to.

"This isn't how I imagined it, Ani." Padme sighed, her tears threatening to return as she continued. "You were going to be on Naboo with me when it happened. It would just be you and me, together, welcoming our children into the world with love. The room by the gardens would be all done up. I'd even put up the mobiles of starships and planets and stars that you wanted. It would be perfect." Padmé swallowed a small sob as her imagined safe haven was shattered by his silence. The pain in her back intensified and she shivered.

"Gods, I love you, Anakin Skywalker. Please don't leave me. Come back!" She planted her forehead on their entwined hands and kissed his fingers, feeling tears she didn't know she had any more of fall onto the sheets. "Please come back, please…"

A new beep she was unfamiliar with pulled her from her grief stricken musings and she looked around for the source. Anakin still hadn't moved and she sighed, convinced she was hearing things. The beep sounded again. She knew it wasn't her comlink, it was the wrong noise, and so she glanced at the heart monitor. Its rhythm hadn't changed from the slow yet steady pace, and Padmé, hoping beyond all hope, looked up, up to the brain activity monitor. The spiking line she saw displayed caused her own heart to skip a beat as she simply stared at it. The activity wasn't constant, but it was a relieving change from the nothingness that had read there for two days.

Catching her breath, pushing back the worsening pain, Padmé reached for her com. "Obi-Wan!" she exclaimed as soon as he connected, skipping any formalities.

"Padmé, is everything all right?" he asked, tired confusion lacing his response.

"Come quickly! Anakin, he's… he might be…" She didn't need to say any more.

"I'll be right there," he said after releasing a shaky, relieved sigh.

As he ended the call, Padmé turned back to her husband just as an uncomfortable ache made itself known in her lower belly. Her eyes flooded, the reality of the inevitable finally hitting her: she was having their babies, and Anakin wouldn't be there. She pulled Anakin's hand entwined with her own to her lips and gave it a deep, hopeful kiss before leaning forward and softly brushing her lips to his unresponsive ones. "That's it, Ani," she whispered, "please come back to me."

The monitor spiked and she smiled, allowing herself to believe that he had heard her, or at least felt her through whatever tenuous connection to the Force he may have even in sleep.

Moments later, Obi-Wan burst into the room flanked by two healers and followed by Master Windu. His eyes flew instantly to the still spiking brain monitor and he put his hand on Padmé's shoulder and squeezed as the healers moved to Anakin's side. One began checking the equipment itself while the other placed his hand on Anakin's forehead and closed his eyes, searching for hope through the Force that the young Jedi Knight might be waking up. After a few quiet moments, he opened his eyes, glanced at his colleague, and turned to the trio watching him with anxious stares.

"He's not waking up yet, but his brain does seem to be stabilizing," he said.

Padmé breathed a sigh of relief, heavy with emotion as she placed her free hand on her stomach as another pain built up. Before she could say anything, however, Mace beat her to it.

"But he will wake up eventually?"

The healer nodded. "It appears so, yes." Padmé smiled.

"Can you tell when?" she asked, and he regarded her with patience and compassion. Though she was an outsider, one that given her circumstances shouldn't be here in her capacity, she was beginning to feel a bit more acceptance from the Jedi, a fact she was pleased to note.

"We can't quite tell what caused his state in the first place, Senator, so unfortunately no. Master Skywalker will just have to come out of it on his own. Perhaps then, when he wakes, will we be able to know what happened."

"Thank the Force," Obi-Wan sighed from beside her. Rubbing her belly thoughtfully, Padmé couldn't help the slow, relieved tear that made its way down her cheek. Anakin was going to be all right, something that until a few moments before she thought was simply the dream of a distressed spouse. But he was going to be all right.

The pain peaked, stronger than all the others as it lanced across her belly, and Padmé hissed at the sudden force of it, squeezing Anakin's hand unconsciously and not noticing Obi-Wan's concerned look as he knelt beside her. He watched her as she breathed through the pain, and when she met his gaze not a word needed to be said. More tears fell from her eyes as she took one last look at Anakin, the man who should be there, relinquished her husband's hand and took the hand of the man who would be there as Obi-Wan helped her to stand.

"Can you walk?" he asked quietly, and she nodded as he led her from the room, nodding to Master Windu before leaving the master to speak further with the healers. As Obi-Wan, her protector in the absence of her husband, led her to a speeder, stopping once when the pain struck, one thought screamed its way through Padmé's head: not now.


	4. Chapter 3

**Surprise! Because the last chapter was shorter than normal and I was a tad late on postage, here's Chapter 3! Thank you all again for your brilliant reviews, follows, and favorites.**

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CHAPTER 3

Obi-Wan stroked his beard as he attempted to understand all that the healer was saying. He stood in the hall outside of Anakin's room much as they had done for the past four days, waiting for the subtle changes in the knight's condition to result in consciousness. He glanced at Mace, who glanced down to Master Yoda as he tried to gauge their feelings toward the news. The elderly Jedi Grand Master had been meditating on the events on Coruscant since returning safely from Kashyyyk, though all he had said on the matter was in relation to a powerful shift in the Force. Even though he was here now, both Jedi Masters knew he was still contemplating everything that had taken place. Eyes closed, Yoda was silent, breathing evenly as the healer's words washed over them all.

From the first sign of hope, the healers had worked constantly, both through the Force and science alike, to determine Anakin's condition, and what they found was simultaneously astounding and worrisome. Since the birth of Anakin's twins almost four days ago now, Obi-Wan had taken Padmé's place by his former apprentice's side, feeling that if his wife's couldn't be the first face he saw, that a friendly one would be best. As the healer's assessment began to sink in, however, Obi-Wan wondered if his would even be familiar after all.

"You're saying that his mind is, what, in hibernation?" Mace Windu posed slowly. The healer nodded and addressed the gathered council members.

"From what we can sense, Master Skywalker's physical brain is intact. It is his consciousness, his mind that is fragmented. The majority of his working mind, as far as we can tell with him still unconscious, has gone into a sort of stasis, tucked away in his memory center, allowing it to heal itself, which it has been, just not as quickly as we would like. On the night of his encounter with the Sith, it's almost as if bits of his mind, his memory, possibly even his personality, were ripped violently away, hence the fragmentation and need for mental repair."

Obi-Wan clenched his jaw as the impact of Anakin's status settled over him, and the rest of the Council shared glances between each other, varying from understanding to slow comprehension. Obi-Wan faced the healer once more, pained to voice what he had gleaned for fear of it becoming real.

"So, when he awakens, he may not remember any of us?"

The healer sighed in compassion, and her eyes spoke of volumes more than the master's assessment. "He may not even remember his own name, Master Kenobi," she said sadly.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and dropped his head, the low murmurs of his fellow Jedi fading as his thoughts turned to Padmé and the children Anakin might never know. Though he had only seen them once since their birth, choosing to accept that he knew nothing about babies at all and to allow Padmé to adjust without his inexperience hindering her and her aids, it was clear to even the casual observer whose twins they were.

Leia was her mother's daughter, but her strong, demanding lungs loudly solidified the basis of her determined personality, and though her darkening eyes and slightly fair skin were her mother's, Leia's disposition was all Anakin. The small brown curls already forming on her chocolate brown head of hair were a testament to Padmé's own, and she was beautiful. Even at her incredibly young age, there was deep thought and interest in Leia's eyes, gazing at Obi-Wan and her mother with intelligence and curiosity, and both knew she would reflect Padmé in just about every sense as she got older.

It was Luke, though, who stole the Jedi Master's heart and helped to heal the hole still left by the baby's healing father. Already sporting a tuft of blonde on the top of his head along with Anakin's complexion, Luke was calm, collected, and clearly took after his mother in temperament. His already crystal clear eyes were trademark Skywalker blue, and his Force presence rivaled that of his Jedi father. But underneath it all, Obi-Wan could already sense an inherent light and sweetness from the tiny boy, and he knew that, if his parents permitted it, Luke could become a great Jedi, a fact that endeared the infant to Obi-Wan even more.

"That is not to say there isn't hope." The healer's words pulled Obi-Wan from his musings, and the female Jedi continued. "Even if at the moment his mind is in healing, when he wakes up we may be able to start rehabilitation to help his memories return, bring them out of their hibernation, so to speak." Obi-Wan turned back to her.

"So, he could still be who he once was?" The healer perked up.

"That, Master Kenobi, is why we have asked you all here. The most remarkable aspect out of all of this isn't what's there in Anakin's head, but rather what is missing."

"What do you mean?" Mace spoke up.

"Remember the missing pieces I spoke of, the cause of his mental fragmentation?" The masters nodded. "When we were first examining Master Skywalker, the only conclusion we could come to is that his mind, his very essence, had been purged of something, something amplified by outside sources that made it far more than it was ever supposed to be. In looking into his mind now, after his encounter with the Sith, the piece that's missing is…"

"The Dark Side."

The hall fell silent as the revered grand master finally spoke. All eyes turned downward as Yoda opened his eyes and looked up to the healer. "Purged of the darkness, young Skywalker has become," he stated.

The healer nodded in awe. "Yes, Master."

Yoda hummed in his throat as Obi-Wan knelt to his level. "Clouded by the Dark Side, Anakin's future has always been. An influence and manipulation by Darth Sidious, I believe this to be. Powerful, young Skywalker is. Desired him as his apprentice, Sidious did."

Over his shoulder, Obi-Wan felt Mace nod. "Before Anakin killed him, the Chancellor did mention something like that, something about having Anakin by his side."

"Hmm," Yoda agreed. "Played to Anakin's fears, desires, to his ego, Sidious did, from the time he was first made your apprentice, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan shook his head in sadness. "I had a feeling his relationship with Anakin was sinister. Every time Anakin came back from visiting with him, his frustration and bitterness toward the Jedi were stronger than normal… and I did nothing," he lamented, allowing his head to fall. Yoda's small yet firm hand on his shoulder brought Obi-Wan back to him.

"Blame yourself, you should not, Obi-Wan. A testament to Sidious' power in the Dark Side, our inability to help Skywalker is."

"Master," Ki-Adi-Mundi drew Yoda's eyes upward, "is it perhaps this dark influence that made Skywalker untrustworthy?"

"More than likely, a certainty, it is," Yoda acknowledged.

"But Skywalker proved that we were correct in our mistrust," Eeth Koth suddenly burst. "He consorts with a Senator, marries her, and hides it from the Council during a galactic conflict, a grievous violation of the Code. These are not the trappings of a redeemable Jedi, and I say he should be expelled regardless!"

Before Obi-Wan could rise to his feet to defend his pupil and friend, Yoda stayed his act. "A separate issue, Skywalker's romantic transgressions are, Master Koth," he intoned peacefully. "His attachments, not of the Dark Side. Saved us all, even with emotional ties, Anakin has. Recognized and held above all else, this must be."

Obi-Wan nodded even as Koth sighed and shook his head, a sentiment echoed by at least two of the remaining masters. Yoda locked eyes with Mace Windu, and the dark skinned master held the probing gaze. "In the Chancellor's office, a disturbance you said you felt, Master Windu."

Mace closed his eyes and Obi-Wan felt the master digging deep into his sensual memory before acknowledging the question. "In the most basic sense, that is what I would call it." Yoda nodded. "Just before Skywalker became incapacitated, I sensed a pulse of Light energy, an energy that had hung around him since he entered the room, though it was tinged by darkness as it always was. Once he fell and Sidious attacked, I don't know what happened. But, when Anakin faced Sidious again, saving my life, there was nothing but the brightest Light energy I have ever felt, no darkness at all."

"Hmm, the will of the Force, Skywalker's triumph was."

"Then hopefully the Force will help him heal," the healer voiced. "But we won't know any more until…"

The swish of the door opening silenced them all as the other healer emerged from Anakin's room and hurriedly pulled his female colleague to the side. As they whispered in hurried debate, Obi-Wan stood and watched them, sensing happiness laced with trepidation and uncertainty over something. Drawing into the Force for strength at the mixed emotions radiating from both healers, Obi-Wan whispered for good news as the female healer turned to him.

"Master Skywalker is awake."

The immense sense of relief flooding the Force at her announcement was palpable, and even the youngest padawan could have felt it and known calm. All the masters remained silent, however, choosing to share approving, relieved glances between each other. The healer held Obi-Wan's gaze, and he could sense that there was more, and an intense feeling of anxiety flooded his veins that caused his heart to pound as she bowed to Master Yoda in respect.

"Masters, I need to speak with Master Kenobi. We will inform the Council of his condition soon."

Yoda, intuitive Jedi that he was, understood immediately, and with a tap of his gimmer stick, he led what was left of the Council out of the healers' way. As the contingent of Jedi made their way down the hall and out of sight, Obi-Wan closed the distance between he and the healer as she led him slowly toward the closed door of Anakin's room. He waited for her to speak, knowing any questions he had would be in vain.

"He seems physically all right, Master Kenobi," she finally said. "He's sitting up, his vitals and presence are fine, but we sense a great deal of confusion and unease within him."

With a nod, Obi-Wan stretched out with his feelings and confirmed for himself the underlying meaning of her statement. "He doesn't know where he is, I can sense it, too."

"We're hoping that, perhaps you might be able to help him, if not simply reassure him that he is safe."

"Of course." The healer nodded. As she placed her hand to the door she paused and glanced up at the anxious Jedi master. "Remember, Master Kenobi, he is not himself, and he may not know you." Obi-Wan swallowed past the growing lump in his throat as he acknowledged her warning, and she opened the door.

Obi-Wan steeled his nerves as two innocent, lost, confused eyes met his at his entrance. The master felt as if he were flashing back to the past as those two eyes simply stared, unmoving, waiting for a move to be made while sitting on the edge of a knife. They were the eyes of his young student somehow housed in his brother's battle scarred, twenty-three year old face, and they were uncomfortably uneasy. The two stared at each other, each gaze filled with a different kind of caution, and Obi-Wan dared not step forward for fear of what Anakin's poor disoriented mind could tell him to do. Instead, as the healer moved to her colleague in the corner of the room, Obi-Wan simply held out his empty hands toward Anakin, a move that received no reaction.

"Anakin?" he said softly, allowing Anakin to see his emotion for one of the only times in his life as his Jedi Master. Anakin held his gaze, unmoving, but he clenched his jaw unconsciously in a very Anakin way. "Welcome back to the land of the living, my friend," Obi-Wan said gently. "I'm so happy to see you're awake. We've been worried about you."

Anakin blinked quickly and looked down at his hands in his lap, and Obi-Wan watched him fidget like he hadn't done since he was a boy. The young man stayed silent, picking at the healer's blanket with eyes so downcast that his old master could no longer read them. Obi-Wan looked at the female healer and she nodded in encouragement. He lowered his hands.

"You're at the Temple, Anakin, you were brought here after you defeated Darth Sidious. The healers have been taking excellent care of you. I'd say it's about time, old friend. That was some nap you took." Still nothing but silence, so Obi-Wan tried another, more personal tactic. "I've missed you, Anakin. When I heard what you did, I came as soon as I could." Obi-Wan took a slow step toward the figure on the bed, and Anakin eyed his boots before raising the same innocent eyes to his masters'. "You're a hero, Anakin, and I am very proud of you. You saved the galaxy."

Almost imperceptibly, Anakin's eyes went unfocused, glazing over as Obi-Wan continued to speak, taking another small step closer to him. "I thought I'd lost you for a while there, we all did."

Obi-Wan took one more step, putting him almost at Anakin's bedside, and his wounded heart took another pound as Anakin's eyes came back from wherever they'd been and he looked upon his master with anguish and fear, moving an inch away and beginning to coil in on himself. The healers stopped their discussion but made no move, and Obi-Wan glanced from them to Anakin. "Anakin, it's all right. It's me." Another step, another inch back, and Obi-Wan saw a tear make its way down Anakin's cheek. "It's Obi-Wan. Nothing's going to hurt you."

More swiftly than before, Anakin moved away, and though even sitting down his friend would normally tower over him, at the moment Obi-Wan felt like the giant as Anakin tucked his knees into his chest. He slowly began to shake his head as he closed his eyes tight, squeezing unshed tears down his face and onto the blanket as his hands came to his ears as if to shut out something unheard. Obi-Wan looked again at the healers, but they were just as perplexed as he was. Feeling as though he had nothing left to lose, and with no more words to offer his struggling friend, Obi-Wan reached into the Force and slowly touched Anakin's mind.

Obi-Wan gasped as a swirling mess of voices flooded his senses, and a mess was the kind word for what he was experiencing. There was no order, no pattern, nothing to suggest a way to unravel the hodgepodge of intensely emotional noise that reverberated through Anakin's head. There was shouting, screaming, cries of Anakin's name, and underneath everything, a crackling fire that burned unlike anything he'd ever felt before. Obi-Wan pushed deeper, seeking a root to the voices, something to pull Anakin into sanity, anything to stem the chaos. As he gently probed through it all, one phrase punctuated by the hum of a descending lightsaber became a constant thrum, a deafening rhythm screaming of pain, betrayal, and resolve.

" _You were my brother, Anakin!"_

The voice was his.

With an animalistic howl, Obi-Wan found himself extracted violently from his friend's mind and thrown across the room, hitting the wall with a hard crack, the back of his head immediately erupting in pain. Holding his head, his hand coming away wet and crimson, Obi-Wan looked up to see Anakin still holding his head in his shivering hands, rocking back and forth on the bed, tears streaming down his face as he continued to whimper and groan. The healers jumped into action, moving to tend to both Jedi at once. The female healer helped Obi-Wan to his feet, but the master kept his eyes trained on his anguished brother. Almost as if he felt his gaze, Anakin lifted his eyes to Obi-Wan's, tears flooding the blue orbs as he screamed out in torment. As the healer led him out, Obi-Wan's last glimpse of his lost friend was the male healer putting his hand to Anakin's forehead while simultaneously injecting him with a sedative, and the screaming stopped as Anakin fell limp onto the bed.


	5. Chapter 4

**Another week, another chapter! Thank you all again for continuing to follow, favorite, and review, I'm so glad that you're all enjoying the story, and hopefully some questions will be answered in the coming chapters as Anakin is finally recovering.**

 **Rhea – 1948: The way I see Anakin at the moment Obi-Wan reaches into his mind to see what's happening is very confused and cautious as he doesn't recognize anything around him. Basically, Anakin feels Obi-Wan touch his mind, and the feeling is foreign to him when he's first woken up, and therefore, unconsciously or not, he lashes out to get rid of the foreign presence in his mind, which, unfortunately, means Obi-Wan is also physically pushed back. More will be explained in this chapter and the subsequent ones, thank you so much for your review!**

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CHAPTER 4

The swirling, undefined images and voices solidified, and he found himself in the midst of yet another nightmare.

 _The wind blowing through the planets' peaceful grassy meadows grows dark and_ _cold, tarnished_ _by his mere presence as he steps through the tall door with a legion of troopers at his back, imposing in his stature, his blood red blade drawn. The small band of rebels pauses in their thwarted escape attempt, and two ignite lightsabers of blue._

" _Hera, go! We'll cover you," the older of the two shouts, and a pistachio skinned Twi'lek continues up the gangplank of the ship. The two Jedi advance, and the golden-eyed, mechanical fiend can sense their inexperience and naïveté as it radiates off of them in waves. He smiles sadistically beneath his helmet as he easily, effortlessly dispatches the master, throwing him like a ragdoll against the surrounding equipment. With gloved hand outstretched, the padawan held helpless by the Force, the monster begins forcing the black haired boys' own saber to bear on his young throat._

" _Your master has deceived you into thinking you can become a Jedi." A voice, dark, menacing, and wholly inhuman taunts the young upstart, as the monster revels in the look of fear flooding the boys' eyes as his azure blade draws blisteringly close to his neck._

"Nah!" Anakin shot up in his bed as he broke the nightmare's hellish grasp, his hands shooting to his ears as the whispering in his head intensified. How much more of this can he endure? Anakin had no way of truly measuring time, but the bags under his eyes reflected his struggle with sleep since he had woken to a strange yet known world. The voices and shapes had plagued him from the moment that man had visited him and invaded his sensitive mind. There were few times when screaming, crying, and death didn't haunt his every moment as he struggled with the basics, like where he, Anakin Skywalker, fit within this world he knew but didn't. The man's face and voice has been a prominent fixture in his dreams and waking nightmares, always accompanied by frustration, love, and a suffocating guilt, none of which Anakin truly understood. He knew that man, he knew he did, but with the feelings surrounding him, Anakin didn't know if he wanted to remember why or how.

The meaningless jumble of voices became louder, transforming into an unbearable cacophony of torture that Anakin had to escape.

" _You don't know the power of the Dark Side."_

" _A powerful Sith you will become."_

" _You have to believe me, Master!"_

" _I'll never join you!"_

" _You were my brother, Anakin!"_

Anakin howled as he tried to grab hold of anything solid, something to make the pain stop. "Anakin?" A louder voice, more potent than the rest, more real, more tangible began tugging him back to the familiar strange reality. Steady, strong hands on his shoulders grounded him, but the voices refused to abate. "Anakin!" the voice urged again, and Anakin lifted his head from his hands, meeting a pair of concerned, steely blue-grey eyes. The voices stilled momentarily as Anakin took in the figure kneeling before him. Searching the face he somehow knew, the name "Obi-Wan" came flying from the ether into the forefront of his memory, a name that carried with it a cargohold of baggage.

"Are you all right?" Obi-Wan asked. "Anakin?" As clear as his voice had been moments before, the voices began whispering once again, joining and drowning out Obi-Wan's as he spoke, and the images flowed like a powerful stream of rapids as Anakin's eyes grew unfocused. Faster than he could hope to follow, images of memories real and not flashed across his mind's eye, all centered on the man before him.

Teacher, disciplinarian, _"holding me back"_ became friend, partner, and brother as his padawan braid was chopped away and his hair was allowed to grow. Skywalker and Kenobi, armed and unstoppable, escaping from death against impossible odds, leading white-shelled troops into the blazing fray, rewarded by laughter and drinks at a job well done. Slowly, yet all too quickly things changed. Uncertainty, lost faith, burning planet, betrayal, _"turned her against me."_

" _You were my brother, Anakin!"_

Cut down and enclosed, darkness, hate, anger, despair. He stands before Obi-Wan again, metal and leather and evil, darkly powerful. His master, withered and white haired, dances with him in a deadly duel until he suddenly smiles and closes his eyes, lifting his lightsaber in surrender. Anakin watches in unholy detail through the veiled lenses of his tomb as his own leather-clad hands swing his crimson blade, and Obi-Wan disappears into the brown of his robes, cut down by his brother in arms.

"No!" Anakin howled, coming back to reality to a world of burning tears. His master, young once again, released his hold on Anakin's shoulders and stood, backing away as Anakin fell once more into his mental pit of anguish, guilt, and turmoil.

" _Know yourself."_

"No," he whimpered again, refusing to accept that he could commit such evil. Tears continued to burn in his eyes, falling to the blankets of his bed as he saw himself strike down the man who raised him, trained him, and became his best friend over and over, the voices insisting upon their torture.

" _You will be expelled from the Jedi Order!"_

" _I hate you!"_

" _And now the student will kill the master."_

" _You were the Chosen One!"_

" _I love you."_

His eyes flew opened as he concentrated, breathed like he had taught himself to do over these undetermined days of internment as he focused on her melodious tone. In and out, he told himself, in and out he breathed, and slowly the voices receded, and all that was left was him and her, dressed in light and dark, standing in a chariot, a riotous coliseum of winged spectators demanding their deaths, but for now, it was just him and his Angel.

" _You love me?" he asked incredulously. Sighing at her revelation come too late, Anakin briefly tore his gaze from hers. "I thought that we had decided not to fall in love. That we would be forced to live a lie, and that it would destroy our lives."_

 _She bit her lip alluringly, and Anakin found himself entranced by the motion she adopted when she was nervous. "I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway," she breathed, and she began leaning towards him. "I truly," closer, "deeply," closer, "love you."_

Anakin evened out his breathing as her lips met his in his memory – yes, he was sure it was real – and he focused on her beautiful face, relishing in the calm it brought him all the way to his bones. In all the chaos, the pain, the hardship that he felt was his life, she was his anchor, his lighthouse in the storm always calling him safely back through the fog. But, the image quickly turned into one of pain, suffering, and death as she whimpered his name, her beautiful face scrunched in agony. He began to sob and curled up into the blankets as in his memory, though hazy unlike the rest, her features slackened and she breathed her last, her loss tearing a void that could never be filled.

Obi-Wan turned from the door and allowed it to silently shut behind him as he walked with purpose towards the Council Tower. He had been called to Anakin's new accommodations, his old room, after two weeks without seeing his friend, but the healers had assured him that the young Jedi was perhaps ready for some outside influence. His memory in its fullest still eluded the Chosen One, and he had still held his tongue to everyone, but they wanted his rehabilitation to begin as he stabilized, regardless of the nightmares. Their first port of call had again been Anakin's former master.

After his initial failure to reach Anakin in any way other than pain, the healers had chosen to keep Anakin isolated, tending to his physical recovery from his short incapacitation, the only aspect of his healing that they knew how to deal with. Now that he was fully healed, however, it was time to address his still absent memory and consciousness, which they could sense was still massively fragmented and incomplete. Anakin's mind was sluggishly piecing itself back together, and both the Council and the healers wanted to help it on its way.

The rush of pain Obi-Wan had felt upon even stepping up to the familiar door of Anakin's old quarters was stifling, and the master had quickly opened the door with the intent to help his former pupil. Seeing Anakin bolt upright in his single bed, escaping the throws of another nightmare, clasping his head in his hands, the thick fog of sadness, guilt, and fear hanging around him, Obi-Wan went to him, his concern for his brother overriding his fear of triggering another attack. He figured Anakin's mind was already doing a good job of that as he projected the chaos within without restraint and for all to hear, stronger than Obi-Wan had ever felt from Anakin before. Obi-Wan heard his voice again accompanied by Ahsoka's, and a few he didn't recognize pulsing in Anakin's head, one gravely, almost elderly, but overwhelmingly powerful, while the other was determined, livid, and strong despite the pain Obi-Wan felt beneath it, the voice of a young man.

Calling to his friend, grasping his shoulders tightly, but not too much, a small measure of relief overcame Obi-Wan when Anakin's tortured gaze flew to his and their eyes met, blue to steel, and it seemed that his old apprentice had been able to quell the madness of his mind trying to fix itself. He had tried to talk to Anakin, weigh how he was feeling, did he like his quarters, did he remember anything, when the glaze of Anakin's eyes melted into sharp consciousness and he screamed his first word since he had awoken. Not wanting a repeat of his mild head injury, Obi-Wan had stepped back, resigned to his impotence as Anakin began thrashing again. Just when he thought he would have to call the healer, Obi-Wan felt Anakin still and calm himself, and as his whimpering and cries turned from tortured to mournful, the one face Obi-Wan saw through Anakin's unshielded projecting made him resolve to return to the Council.

They had called for the wrong person.

Obi-Wan reached the Council chamber and felt for familiar presences within, and was relieved to only feel those of Masters Yoda and Windu as he stepped through to the circular room. The sun was beginning its slow descent on the day, filling the chamber with golden orange light as he approached Yoda and Mace.

"Master Kenobi, not with young Skywalker, you are." Yoda observed, and Obi-Wan shook his head as he took his seat and faced the two masters.

"No Master, and I do not feel as though I am the right person for this task."

"Why not?" Mace asked, and Obi-Wan leaned forward, rubbing his face with his hand before stroking his beard.

"When I went to see him… when he looks at me all I can sense from him is pain, doubt, and a very strong feeling of guilt. When he looks at me, he doesn't like whatever his mind is making him see, and I wonder if given our time in training and the Clone Wars his memories of me are simply too violent to be of any real help."

Mace and Yoda glanced between each other, the Grand Master nodding and turning back to Obi-Wan. "Senator Amidala, you wish to suggest, hmm?"

"Masters, when his mind was forcing whatever agony it has been subjecting him to as it heals, she was the one thought, the one face that calmed him. If anyone has any hope of truly aiding his healing, it is his wife."

Though Mace stiffened at the word, put off by the very mention of Anakin's transgression, Yoda's nod brokered no room for argument. "Bring her to him tomorrow, you will, Obi-Wan, if you feel it is the right course to take."

"I do, Master, and thank you." Obi-Wan stood and bowed to them both before exiting the chamber and pulling out his comlink as he made his way to his speeder. After a few blinks, a very tired Padmé answered his call.

"Dormé, could you take her please? Thank you. Amidala."

"Padmé."

She sighed at the sound of his voice, and Obi-Wan heard a small coo in the background. "Obi-Wan, how is he?"

That was something the Jedi Master had always admired about the Senator, she was intuitive and always knew what was happening, getting right down to business when necessary and making small talk when not. "I'm afraid he could be better, Senator. I have some news if I may come speak with you."

"Yes, of course, Obi-Wan, we're just trying to put the twins down now. They should be asleep at least for a while when you arrive." He smiled.

"I would very much like to see them."

"You're always welcome, Obi-Wan."

"I'll be there shortly, Senator."


	6. Chapter 5

**Thank you all again for your reviews, favorites, and follows, it definitely keeps me going when IRL commitments lead to unwanted writer's block (adulting sucks). It has come to a point where one of the hardest chapters in this story is finally upon me, and it's taking a little longer to get to it and get it right than I'd like, but hopefully that means it'll come out better than expected as well :) In the mean time, here's Chapter 5, hope you all enjoy!**

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CHAPTER 5

He had watched the sunrise, the beams of light breaking through the fading darkness telling of the ever-present traffic. He hadn't slept, his mind haunted by the images that refused to settle, become meaningful and understood, mainly focused on Obi-Wan, Anakin's arrogant, conscious desire to eclipse his master, and his deep, devastating resentment when he was chastised for flaunting his power. However, Anakin no longer felt such desire eating away at his soul, felt no such bitterness toward the man who had taken him in, made him a Jedi and molded him into the man he was, even if he knew those angry memories were real, causing his chest to twist in shame. Unfortunately, his mind wouldn't let him think on his new feelings, allowing for the good, happy images of his master to be tainted by the mechanical monster cloaked in black that he saw in his nightmares, and Anakin would writhe and anguish again, fighting between who he was and who he wanted to be until he found her, shining in the depths of his mind.

His Angel, she was quite literally the girl of his dreams. Every image he pulled strength from was of her: the Angel with the warm, loving chocolate eyes. The calm and overwhelming deep love that came at his mere thought of her took away all his pain, soothed his pulsing head, and brought clarity to his existence. But those images were tainted as well, and her death screeched across the glowing scenes of love like a freight train bound on reminding him that his Angel is no more alive than everyone else he truly loved.

Anakin sat still on the edge of his bed, blankets rumpled with fruitless attempts at sleep, but even if his body was still in his wakeful state, his ever-moving mind kept sorting through the mess that was his jumbled memories. It was the quiet times, the times before the girl with the warm, healing touch would come see him that he dreaded. In these moments, the images and whispers were at their loudest, and only she could drive them away. He sucked in a breath as he felt himself pulled into another painful place, one that he knew was all too real, and his head dropped into his hands as the images engulfed him.

 _He kicked the wall of the mud hut through where he had cut it, and he crouched down into the fire-lit space to reach his goal. Anakin's eyes fell on an older woman, beaten, bleeding, and terribly bruised tied up and barely conscious. Swiftly, he undid her bindings with hardly a moment before she collapsed into his arms and he slumped to the ground with her, cradling her like his most precious possession. "Mom?"_

 _Slowly she opened her eyes, her groans of pain falling silent as she took in his face for what he felt was the first time in years. "Ani?"_

" _I'm here mom, you're safe."_

 _She cradled his face with her scarred hand, marveling at how handsome he was, and upon his kiss to her palm she sighed how proud she was of him. He could feel her life slipping away with each breath, and he clung to her, wanting to hold her as tightly as he could to keep her with him. But, as she declared her unyielding and unconditional love for her grown up son, Anakin felt her life leave her body as her head fell limp from his shoulder._

A sob bobbed from his throat, and tears fell from his eyes both in his mind and sitting still on his bed. He had seen this one before, replayed several times, more times perhaps than Obi-Wan cutting him down as they fought to the death, and he wept at the rage and hate he felt pulsing through his veins as he committed an unspeakable killing spree. He knew it was him, but it couldn't be. The anger was gone, the resentment, the bitter lust for power and control, all gone, and yet as he watched through the eyes of his younger self, a whisper told him it was true. He clutched his head tighter, his eyes squeezing hot tears from their depths as he struggled to understand how these terrible acts were his.

The gentle swish of the door opening banished the Tuskens' screams, and Anakin glanced out towards the now strong sunlight streaming through his window, hurriedly wiping at his tears, expecting the healing girl to come to his side with his breakfast and begin her first assessment of the day. When silence was the only follow up to the intrusion, Anakin turned questioningly to the door and paused in his movement for fear that the apparition would disappear.

She stood before him, the girl of his dreams, his Angel, glowing in the Force like a beacon for him, amplified by the radiant sunlight from the still open door as he simply stared at her. Her deep blue dress brought forth images of her standing in the desert of Tatooine, her loose curls moving slightly in the soft wind as she stroked his hair as he cried. _"To be angry is to be human."_ His mind raced as the vision of her dying reared its head again, and even as she stood right in front of him, breathing, alive, he couldn't quite allow himself to believe it.

She gasped when their eyes met, and her gaze raked over his body from head to toe, and he saw tears glistening from her beautiful, intelligent depths. "Oh, Anakin," she sighed, and he heard the emotion she was fighting to overcome. He held her gaze unblinking as she sniffed and took a step toward him, still waiting pensively for her to walk into thin air and dissolve before his eyes. But she continued her short, wary walk to him, fully formed, and he felt an incredible calm at the barely restrained joy he felt radiating from her. He still held his breath as she cautiously sat on the bed beside him, and though she was almost a foot away from him, giving him his space, he could feel the warmth of her skin, smell the scent of her shampoo, and he lost himself in the intoxication of her presence.

"Ani, I've missed you so much," she said. She kept her distance, holding her hands in each other and crossing her ankles together, and as he let his breath release, accepting that perhaps she was real, all he wanted to do was touch her. "Nothing's been the same without you." His heart that had been silenced for so long screamed for him to simply reach out and touch her hair, convince himself that she was really here and with him. Tentatively and shaking, Anakin softly brushed his fingertips against a soft, perfect curl, and her eyes dropped to his hand, startled by his movement.

Unwelcome images flew to his mind and he moaned, pulling his eyes from his Angel but still seeing her face as all new memories of her played before him. Her familiar distressed screams as she begged for him to help her reverberated throughout as he pounded the smug Scipio diplomat to a pulp, only pulling away at her angry, resolved voice as she banished him from her life. The screams intensified behind images of his hand wrapping an invisible force around her neck, cutting her off from her life force before releasing her to face his old master. _"Stop now, come back!"_ she begged him. The jealousy, the anger, the hate pulsed through the memories, causing Anakin to whimper in despair and sadness. How could he do such things to her, his precious Angel, his love? He began to weep as he realized that though she lived, she might never forgive him.

"Ani, please, it's okay, Ani. Please, come back!" Gentle but firm hands cradling his face drew him back to his room, this morning, and the Angel he didn't deserve. She stood before him now, matching tear tracks down her cheeks as she bent down to catch his gaze. Anakin sniffed and gulped as he drowned in her eyes, the eyes of a woman whose love for him was unmistakable, and he felt terribly unworthy. She gave him a watery smile as she watched his eyes clear. "There you are, my love," she sighed.

Wanting all the calm, serenity, and love that her eyes gave to him, Anakin slowly pulled his shaking hands from his hair and tentatively, watching her every move, placed them on her cheeks, holding her delicate face in a mirror image of her own hold on him. Relief engulfed Padmé's eyes as she read the recognition, longing, and love he was projecting towards her from his intent stare, and without breaking eye contact she turned her face and softly kissed her husband's hand. Yes, her name was Padmé, and she was his Angel, his wife, his everything. And she was alive.

"Angel," he whispered, and her eyes widened with shock as more images came to his mind, but these were uninhibited by the haunt and sting of her death. Padmé's slightly younger face stares at him pensively as he strokes her exposed back and leans in to kiss her for the first time as the sun shimmers off the lake. She holds his hand as they take their marriage vows, smiling as she promises her love and devotion to him always, while later she playfully pulls him into her kiss by the braid behind his ear. _"I love you."_

Feeling an unyielding urge to hold her, Anakin lunged into her stomach, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head below her breasts. His tears fell in relief as he felt her arms encircle his head and shoulders, her fingers threading through his curls just how he likes it. "Padmé," he choked heavily through his tears, and he felt her gasp as her name fell from his lips. "Alive."

She continued to hold him as his mind reveled in her existence and the strength he drew from the love he felt radiating from her for him. Despite his crushing guilt for deeds he wasn't sure he had done and those he knew were his own selfish sins, his Angel was here, she was alive, and she loved him. The enormity of how blessed yet unworthy he was of such a love in his life was incalculable, and Anakin vowed that if his mind ever came back to him, making him whole, he would spend the rest of his life and beyond making this woman happy. His tears slowed and he was left shaking in her arms. Padmé tenderly urged his face from her body as she knelt between his legs and caught his gaze again.

"Yes, Ani," she whispered, her own throat choked with tears. "I'm here." She smiled gently, and, stroking his cheek free of tears, she leaned in and kissed him. The flood of images returned, but they were slower, clearer, more collected and put together. As he responded timidly to her soft kiss, cradling her cheek delicately, the calm she gave him began piecing things into place.


	7. Chapter 6

**Here it is, Chapter 6! This one's a long one, much to get through, so hopefully it's worth it. The next few weeks are massively busy for me, and the next chapter is the one that's been giving me more trouble than I'd like, but I will have it up for all you wonderful readers as soon as I can, which hopefully shouldn't be too late. I've also updated the chapter tabs to correspond correctly with the chapter numbers you're reading. Thank you all again for your brilliant reviews and for continuing to follow and favorite this story! Two more chapters to go!**

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CHAPTER 6

He smiled shyly at her, glancing up from underneath his lashes and she couldn't help but smile warmly back. She had gotten used to his coy looks when he thought she wasn't paying attention, the shy, almost childlike smiles he would give her, and it was incredibly endearing. Padmé had never known Anakin to be shy about anything in his life, with his confidence and arrogance masquerading as self-assuredness seeping into everything he did. He was definitely never shy with her, save for their wedding night when he had asked her to lead him, and though she had grown used to it over the past few days, Padmé found herself missing aspects of her cocky, confident, young husband, but at least he no longer looked at her in trepidation, as though she was going to disappear.

She glanced back down at the board on the table in front of them and calculated her next move, feeling his eyes on her as her smile widened. It felt good to know that he was there in at least some capacity, even if it was still difficult for him to remain in the present, but as time went on and he got better, she saw more and more glimpses of her Anakin. Seeing her move she bit her lip, knowing he wasn't going to be happy, and she picked up her shiny black chip and jumped it over three of his in quick succession, bringing their longest game yet to a dramatic close.

"Gotcha," she exclaimed softly as she collected the last of his red chips and placed them beside the board. He dropped his head in defeat and she giggled at the good humor lacing his wounded face.

"You couldn't let me win one, could you?" he asked. She giggled harder.

Three words, that's all it had taken for Anakin to break the chaotic realm of his puzzled memories, and like a jigsaw, the pieces had slowly and seamlessly begun to fit into place. From her first visit, his healing rate had tripled, and with her continued presence he progressed more quickly than even the healers could have hoped for. He had gained a bit of his weight back, and though it hadn't been much, she had still immediately seen the effects of a lax in daily morning exercises, lightsaber training, and his normal voracious eating habits the moment she had set eyes on him a little over a week ago. His eyes were no longer rimmed in haunted, sleepless circles, and their hollowness was beginning to subside, but as his mind would wander to moments she couldn't see, sometimes mid conversation, the spark would leave his blue orbs, and she was reminded of how far from himself he still was. However, as soon as it had started fitting, his mind found it easier to knit itself back together, starting to close the gaps where the darkness had been, and with Padmé visiting him religiously every day, what was developing was a calmer, softer, more even tempered Anakin than the one who had faced Darth Sidious.

He smiled at her again and bit his own lip. "I remember the first time I heard you laugh like that," he said, and she lifted her eyes from where she was putting the game away.

"Oh? When was that?" She knew perfectly well, but part of their game was seeing if he was right in his remembrance.

"On Naboo, in the meadow. You thought I was making fun of you, and you laughed just like that."

She smiled closing up the box. "I'm glad you remember that."

He nodded to himself. "I knew that was real," he said, tapping his hand absently on his knee. "That… feels real."

"That day, I started falling in love with you, Ani." She reached across the table and gently grasped the hand on his knee, bringing his eyes up to hers again. "I tried my hardest not to, but I couldn't help it."

He clenched his jaw as his face suddenly fell, and his eyes lost their momentary sparkle as he dropped her gaze, staring at her fingers that stroked his lovingly, and Padmé knew he was losing himself somewhere. Though it happened less now, and he no longer clutched his hands to his ears in torment, Anakin still couldn't, or wouldn't vocalize to his worried wife all that his healing mind still plagued him with, the horrors it played for him at her words, a look, even the smallest sound that escaped her lips. She had begged and pleaded with him many times to tell her what he saw, what led him to ask questions about his life, but all he seemed able to say before his eyes would glaze and his hand would twitch, itching to touch his hair, was how he worried about which one was the real him, as cryptic a statement as she had ever heard from him. It wounded her more than anything to know she could do nothing but attempt to pull him back to the present and try her best to assuage his fears about things she knew nothing about, but in his delicate state she didn't want to push him to places he clearly wasn't ready to talk about for fear of setting him back.

"Ani," she prompted, wanting to pull him from whatever his mind was playing for him. When he didn't respond, she squeezed his hand. "Ani?" Still nothing, and when she saw tears slowly welling in his eyes she moved to sit beside him, pressing her free hand into his back. "Anakin!"

He finally blinked slowly, then quickly as he cleared his vision as he had done so many times before, and he raised his head to meet her worried gaze. He swallowed as she began to rub his back soothingly. "Where were you?" Anakin blinked once more and suddenly began looking everywhere but her eyes. She threaded their fingers together as she waited for him to say something, anything.

"Padmé, were we happy?" She hadn't expected that.

"What? Anakin."

"Before this," he rapped his finger to his temple before finally taking a deep breath and meeting her eyes, "were we happy? Were you happy?"

"Anakin…" Speechless, she was utterly speechless. He hadn't yet asked her something so deeply profound and personal, and it was causing her to stumble. Taking a cue from him, she breathed deeply, gathering her thoughts. "Of course we were. What makes you ask me that?" she finally breathed, allowing him to see how deeply his question had affected her. He sighed, closed his eyes and dropped his head into his free hand.

"'This marriage isn't a marriage.' That's what you said to me."

It was her turn to blink and furrow her brows as she began wracking her befuddled brain to come up with something. When had she said that to him? It sounded familiar yet so unlike her to say something so hurtful to her husband whom she loved so dearly. What could he possibly have done to elicit such a proclamation from her?

Oh.

The memory of his jealousy-fueled rampage upon someone she had falsely placed her trust in came rushing back, and suddenly, Padmé wished she could tell him it wasn't true. But it had happened, it had been their life, and in one fell swoop he had become what she feared the most: someone she no longer recognized nor trusted. The anger she had felt from him as he beat Rush Clovis, even if her friend had unknowingly overstepped his bounds, had frightened her, and she now remembered her words to her virile, seething husband clearly.

" _I don't know who's in there sometimes,"_ she had said as she stepped away from his remorseful form. _"I just know that I'm not happy."_

Padmé glanced at her husband, her fragile, vulnerable, very different Anakin, and she realized he was holding his breath as he awaited her response. His eyes bored into her, no longer mischievously shy as they had played, confidence all but lost within the anxiety she now saw shining at her from his crystal blue eyes. Even if he wasn't himself, still quite a bit off from it, he was still Anakin, she could see it, hear it in everything he did and managed to say. Obi-Wan had told her of Palpatine's surreptitious hold over her sweet husband, and how his dark, selfish nature had festered within him due to the dark lord's sinister influence, and suddenly her statement of two years ago made perfect sense. As she looked upon the Anakin hanging on her answer, she finally felt that she knew exactly who he was through and through.

She bit her lip as his eyes fell from hers, clearly taking her silence as the answer he had longed not to hear. Untwining their fingers Padmé clasped his face in her soft, small hands and turned his gaze back to hers. She stared at him lovingly, allowing him to see all the love she held for him.

"Yes, Anakin, we were happy," she finally said, and he took a long, relieved breath, but she wasn't done. "For a while, we were as happy as we could be. We didn't see each other very much, but the time we did get to spend together was some of the happiest of my life." He brought his flesh hand up and softly touched hers that cupped his cheek as she lowered her eyes briefly. "But, things started to change after a while as the war dragged on. You became angrier, more bitter about what you were being asked to do and why, resentful that you and I couldn't be together the way we wanted, and unfortunately I didn't help much. I said what I did, Anakin, because I was angry, too. I knew what was happening to you… well, I though I knew. I thought the war was killing you, this horrible war that even everything I had in me couldn't bring to an end for you, so you could come home, be with me, and we could maybe, maybe have a semi-normal life."

Padmé felt her heart sink at the horribly guilty, anguished look that washed over Anakin's face as she took her hands away but held his that held hers close. "That night, I saw someone I didn't recognize, and it scared me. But do you know what I see now, Anakin?" He shook his head but kept his eyes downcast. A squeeze in return to hers let her know that she had his full attention, though. "I see the man I married. The man who makes me laugh more than any other, the only one who doesn't only see The Senator, but sees Padmé, the one who allows me to be myself. The man who has saved my life in more ways than one, and I know that whatever was inside you that made me say those things is gone. I love you Ani, I always have."

He finally lifted his eyes and she smiled gently, lovingly at him. Slowly, cautiously, he returned her smile and she pulled him close, burring her face in his slightly too long hair and she released a shaky breath.

"I love you, Padmé," he whispered. "And I promise I'll never do anything like that to you again."

She squeezed his shoulders tighter, sealing her understanding and belief in his promise, for now that their marriage was out in the open, she had a feeling that everything would be all right.

Anakin reluctantly pulled himself from her arms as the chirp of her comlink invaded their moment. Padmé pulled it from a hidden pocket in her flowing dress and, squeezing his hand and meeting his eyes apologetically, moved to the window to answer the call. Anakin couldn't tell if she meant for him to not hear, but he watched her movement all the same.

"Amidala," she answered, and Anakin jumped at the insistent, distressed crying he heard emanating from across the link.

"Milady, I'm so sorry to disturb you."

"Tekla, is everything all right? What's happened?" A tone Anakin had never heard from her before flooded Padmé's question, and something in his heart lurched at the emotion it projected and elicited within him.

"It's Luke, he's been crying for the last half hour…"

Anakin blinked wildly as his hearing clouded, Tekla's reply and what he now recognized as a baby's cry fading into a dull hum as his senses were affronted, that name washing over him.

Luke.

Warmth and pain filled his heart at the simple name, and Anakin brought his hand to his mouth as the feeling threatened to overwhelm him. As they hadn't for almost four days, the images of what he now knew to be a life unfulfilled violently assaulted his present, filled with the blazing blue eyes and sparkling blonde hair of a young man.

He fell back into the suit, transforming into the golden-eyed monster that he could have become, felt the mechanical breathing that haunted his dreams and fed his guilt, as he saw through red tinted lenses the boy he knew as Luke cry out in grief as Obi-Wan Kenobi fell at Anakin's hands. A glimpse is all it was, but the boy's image had been forever burned into the monster's memory, especially when he learned that this wide-eyed youth, who inexplicably destroyed the Emperor's ultimate weapon, was his son.

From the lips of a bounty hunter, the astonishing, amazing, life changing news had come, as Boba Fett returned somewhat victorious from his mission to find the destroyer of the Death Star. _"Just his name"_ had given way to so much more than the simple addition of information the monster had been expecting as Fett spoke his own true name, and suddenly the monster remembered the happiest moment of his life. Returning home after so long, her dress big enough to swallow them both becoming clear as she looked at him with apprehension. _"Ani, I'm pregnant."_ The monster felt his heart swell as he accepted the truth, the foreign sensation almost painful, as he realized that he had forgotten what love felt like.

"Luke," Anakin felt himself whisper as his hand fell away, falling into his lap as the images faded, his son's eyes identical to his own still staring at him through time and space, from a life Anakin vowed his true son would never know.

A slightly trembling hand on his shoulder pulled Anakin back, and he looked up at his Angel, her eyes mirroring their tentative, almost scared gleam as the day she had told him of their impending parenthood. Steadying his breath as best he could, he realized the comlink was off, her attention completely for him as she waited, and Anakin knew she had heard what he had thought was a barely audible affirmation to himself. Slowly, Anakin stood, his eyes not leaving hers until he held her at arms length. He felt her anxious stare as he looked her up and down, his eyes roaming her body before he placed his trembling flesh hand on her stomach, something her consistently flowing dresses had concealed from him.

She was smaller, Anakin felt, almost back to normal. He chided himself for not noticing before, but it seemed as though some higher power was still pulling his strings, revealing things when he needed them most. Carefully, Anakin raised his piercing eyes to hers, noticing the rim of tears building in her lower lids. With his free hand he held her cheek, the dark leather cutting a stark contrast against her creamy skin as he searched her eyes for answers. "I saw…" he stuttered. "Did you… Are they…?"

She drew in a sharp breath at his words. "You know?" she whispered. He blinked and wet his lips.

"Know?"

Padmé sighed and covered his hand on her cheek with her own, drawing his palm to her lips for a kiss as she smiled.

"There are two, Ani. We have twins."

She lost his gaze as he drew a shuddering breath, his eyes pressed closed in relief. As she pulled him into her arms again he reveled in the pure joy she had just given him. There was nothing from the unknown life that he would ever want. All the images he had been granted during his recovery had been nothing but darkness, drowning him in hate, resentment, arrogance, pain, and nothing about what he saw made him relish the power he felt flowing through the golden-eyed monster of his supposed future. Without Padmé, his life was nothing, and all the power in the galaxy wouldn't change that. The one glimmer of worth that had just been opened from the depths of his healing mind had been the knowledge that his child, his children, had survived his atrocities. He felt tears burn his eyes as the quiet memories before Sidious' reveal came rushing back: reveling in wonder as he felt his twins reach out to him from within his wife, beginning the arduous yet thrilling task of choosing names, the peace of holding her while she slept only to feel a strong kick against his hand. His children were alive, there were indeed two, and Padmé was here in his arms. He began to laugh softly in ecstasy as his joy overtook him, and he picked his wife up and spun her in his arms. He was a father.

He set Padmé on her feet and kissed her blissfully, pouring his love, his awe, and his pure excitement into the kiss. "I love you, Padmé," he said as he broke the kiss, smiling as he hadn't done in what felt like eons. His mood was infectious as she allowed a watery giggle to pass her lips.

"I love you, Anakin."

She reached up gently and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before pulling out of his arms reluctantly. "I'm sorry Ani, but I have to go. Poor Luke isn't behaving." His face fell as she slowly moved around the room, and he felt her sadness at having to leave him mixed with a sense of urgency to return to her unhappy son. Anakin felt her urgency as if it were his own, and suddenly he realized that it was indeed his own.

"Can I see them?" he called as she finished gathering her things. She glanced at him, caught off guard by his simple yet loaded request. His eyes pleaded with her and he reached out to her, willing her to feel his longing, and she felt her heart leap.

"Ani…" she whispered, about to placate him, but he strode across the room in two long steps until he held her hand in his own, begging her to grant him this one mercy.

"Please, Padmé."

She took a shaky breath and bit her lip before swallowing and squeezing his hand in reassurance. "Let me see what I can do," she said. "I'll be right back."

Anakin sighed in relief as she kissed his cheek and left the room, giving him a glance over her shoulder before closing the door. Nodding to himself, Anakin ran a hand through his hair as his mind began to race, in jeopardy of falling back into oblivion without her calming presence, overwhelmed with the fact that one piece of his horrific, almost future was real. For more than a week, Padmé had come to his bedside, and for over a week he had found himself more able to distinguish between what his mind continued to make him face and what was real. In his quest for clarity, she had been his resource for everything, a shoulder to cry on when it all became too much, his fulcrum for finding the fault line that separated his true history and his would be future, but every time she left, going back to her home without him he felt himself slipping, though he had gotten better at finding the calm within himself to survive until she returned the next day. He had tried to never allow her to see him at his worst throughout their short marriage, but she had recently witnessed him at his weakest as he recovered, and suddenly his mind began replaying the look of unease as he asked her to see his children. Did she trust him? Did he trust himself?

Anakin began pacing as remembered feelings of anger, fear, confusion, a crushing lust to be all powerful, all his yet no longer present and all consuming invaded his mind and his anxiety flew into overdrive. Could he be a good father? He could still feel that he was not himself, and he wondered if he would ever be himself again, but when his mind flashed to the abomination he had almost become, did he even want to be himself anymore? What if the monster he had seen himself becoming still brewed inside him, waiting for some unknown catalyst to breathe life into the dark presence?

"No," he groaned to himself, halting his steps with the most massive effort as he internally told himself to breathe as he had taught himself. Looking inward, stretching into his own presence, Anakin reminded himself of the separation, when his conscious decision precipitated by the voice of his son had changed his black cloaked destiny forever. Within his presence, his connection to the Living Force, effortless and stronger than he had ever felt it before, Anakin solidified in his heart the sensation at the lack of the darkness he had fought against all his life. Shutting his eyes tightly, he cleared his mind of the fear, the anguish that lingered over events that, if he remained on the path he now found himself on, would never come to be. Slowly, he realized that what was left inside was nothing more than the natural anxieties of a father about to meet his children for the first time… if Padmé allowed it yet.

The door opening pulled him back to the present, and he turned to face his wife. He breathed in her returned presence, feeling the calm he had found within himself intensify as their eyes met, and he realized that she was smiling.

"We have two hours," she said, the barely contained happiness shaking her voice, and he felt himself smile unsteadily back as she took his hand and twined their fingers together. "Are you ready?" He nodded wordlessly and wet his lips, feeling his heart flutter at her touch, the knowledge that he would be seeing beyond the walls he could trace in his sleep, and the unshielded nerves at the thought of meeting his children. He glanced around the space of his quarters as she led him out the door, and felt himself concentrate hard on the grip she had on his hand, as he entered the wider world as the new man he felt himself becoming.

She was talking softly to him as they hailed a cab and entered the speeder, but he didn't hear what she was telling him. The trip seemed interminable, regardless of the driver's proclivity for weaving and ducking through traffic as his anxiety grew, melding with his excitement as the fifteen-minute journey dragged. He clutched Padmé's hand harder as his fears once again began to get the best of him. He knew nothing about babies, he knew nothing about being a father, and his lack of faith in his abilities was daunting. He realized that he had hardly ever doubted himself before, at least not that he would ever openly admit, and the overwhelming sensation stayed his breath until he blew it out in a nervous burst.

He felt Padmé's hand begin to rub the back of his neck soothingly, and he glanced at her from under his lashes. "Are you all right, Ani?" He bit his lip and dropped his eyes, absently picking at a loose thread on the robe he realized he was still wearing, covering his favorite dark brown tunic and cotton pants she had discovered for him in the closet of his room. He suddenly felt entirely too conscious of his lack of outer wear, feeling akin to a mental patient unexpectedly sprung, something he supposed, in reality, he was.

"Am I that obvious?" he asked sullenly. He felt her lips briefly brush against his temple and he shut his eyes, soaking in the soft touch.

"Only to me," she breathed. "Will you tell me what's bothering you?"

Force, he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted her to know his visions, his fears, the things he saw that made it hard for him to be held by her sometimes. But how could he tell her that he killed her in another life, a life that almost was, one so real it wracked him with guilt so palpable it felt as if the unfulfilled was true. He couldn't saddle her with that, so with a shaking breath to drown out her pained screams for his help as she died on the table, Anakin began playing with her fingers as he thought of a way to distract her, running his fingers up and down each of hers thoughtfully.

"What are they like, Padmé?" he asked, finally meeting her gaze again as he grew sad with the thought that he hadn't been there for the birth of his children. He knew that she knew what he was doing, but his wife smiled anyway.

"They're perfect, Anakin," she gushed softly, and a small smile began tugging his lips upward at her motherly admiration. "They're so beautiful, so happy. Luke looks just like you, and Leia is already very much your daughter." A small laugh pushed past his lips as his smile threatened to overtake him before his face fell once more and he stared beyond her out the window at Coruscant's sparkling skyline.

"I don't know if I can do this, Padmé," he whispered. He refused to meet her eyes even as she shook her head at him. "I don't… I don't know how to do this."

"No one does, Ani," she said. "I'll be there with you, and I promise you'll be fine."

"What if… what if they hate me? What if they can sense…" She ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Sense what?"

He finally looked at her, read the desire in her chocolate eyes to free him of his pain, saw her silently begging him to open up to her. He bit his lip, his mind working furiously as he felt himself tear between shielding her from his pain and lightening his unbearable load. "I…" He paused, took a quivering breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and when he felt he was ready, faced her again. "I…"

He cut himself off as he felt the cab slow, and Anakin's nerves deepened as they pulled into the familiar veranda of 500 Republica. Padmé tabled his thought with a firm kiss to his temple, thanked and paid the driver before stepping out as a frazzled Tekla walked out to meet her. The two women stepped into the reception room just beyond before Anakin felt comfortable enough to exit the cab. He drank in the familiar scenery, felt himself relax as he soaked in the soft splashing of the fountains, the familiar wind whipping through his waves, and he breathed deeply as the cab pulled away back into Coruscant's traffic. Feeling his relaxed state calm his pulsing heart, Anakin stepped into the living quarters of the place he had liked to call home, and his anxiety returned in a rush.

Anakin watched cautiously as his wife leaned over a rocking bassinet and picked up a squirming, screaming, red-faced infant, and he smiled slowly as she cradled her squalling child safely against her chest. Almost instantly upon hearing her soothing, motherly voice, the child began to quiet, and as Padmé continued to coo, Anakin was awestruck at how beautiful she was as his heart pounded his love for her strongly through his veins. Stretching out into the Force, Anakin reached for the infant held so lovingly by his wife, and he felt relief, safety, and a sense of contentment as his son allowed his mother's voice to calm what had been bothering him. He had simply wanted his mother.

Looking up at her aid, who looked more than a little relieved herself, Padmé smiled. "Where's Leia?"

"Asleep, though she should be waking up soon," Tekla replied. "As soon as Luke started fussing, I brought him down here so he wouldn't wake her."

Padmé glanced toward the veranda and locked eyes with Anakin's, smiling reassuringly at her tentative husband while still addressing Tekla. "Could you bring her down please, there's someone she needs to meet."

She held his gaze lovingly as Tekla spared him a glance before smoothly leaving and heading towards the back of the apartment wordlessly. Continuing to smile widely at him, Padmé stretched out her hand to him, and sucking in a nervous breath, dropping his eyes nervously and swallowing, Anakin stepped towards her and the child slowly. The baby was no longer crying, only hiccupping softly and staring at his mother as Anakin took her hand and allowed her to lead him to sit on one of the plush couches before sitting beside him. She looked from the tiny, wriggling life in her arms to her fidgeting husband again, and Anakin lowered his eyes to take in his son for the first time.

"Hold out your arms," Padmé instructed gently, and on pure instinct he didn't even know he had, Anakin did as he was told, mirroring the position she held so effortlessly, one that felt foreign to him. The moment she shifted Luke in her arms, preparing to hand him to his father, Anakin felt himself begin to tremble, but out of excited anticipation or fearful anxiety, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that his mind was screaming one simple order: don't mess this up!

"Ani," his wife was almost in tears as she gently moved Luke from mother to father, "this is your son."

His eyes never lifted as he carefully adjusted his hold on his son, watching as his infant boy shifted his wide, blue-eyed gaze to look upon his father. Neither made a move, and Anakin slowly dispelled a breath he didn't know he had been holding as Luke quietly took in the new face and the surprisingly gentle arms that cradled him to the fluffy material of Anakin's robe that covered a strong, male chest. Anakin slowly smiled tearfully, his mind flooding with a happiness he never thought he would ever feel as Luke's gaze flit across his face. Softly, more smoothly than he had felt previously, his son's eyes pulled him into another place, a time that Anakin would treasure forever, even if he had never, and would never live it.

 _Luke pulled the black, terrifying mask off as gingerly as possible, Anakin feeling his son's unease and sadness at carrying out his father's last request. As the mask fell away with a deep exhale from the iron lung, Anakin momentarily lost sight of his son, but then, beautiful clarity was unveiled without a tint of red, and Anakin saw Luke as he was always meant to see him: with his own eyes. Luke set the mask aside as his face morphed from stoic resolve to pure compassion and love as the face of his father was finally revealed to him, and Anakin rejoiced at the death of the golden-eyed monster that had caused so much heartache. A shutter from the massive Death Star and unseen blaster fire brought the dying Anakin back to the reality at hand._

" _Now go, my son," he tried to implore with all the strength left in him. Luke began immediately shaking his head as his father brokenly told him to leave him to burn within the evil he had helped create._

" _No, you're coming with me." The assertiveness in his son's resolute statement was as firm as Anakin had ever heard it. "I'll not leave you here, I've got to save you!" A lone tear slowly tracked down Luke's tanned cheek, so much like his own in what was another lifetime ago, and Anakin wished he could brush it away and hold his son. But his weak, dying body would have none of it as he felt the strong tug of death upon him._

" _You already have, Luke," he weakly affirmed, and Luke's eyes softened. "You were right about me. Tell your sister…"_

"You were right," Anakin breathed as his son's tearful eyes changed once again into the soft yet inquisitive ones of the infant he held in his arms. Careful to keep Luke steady, Anakin wiped away the tear that had been prickling in the corner of his eye as he and his son continued to stare at each other. Luke suddenly squirmed in his father's arms, a small, chubby arm bursting free from the blanket that swaddled him. Grunting curiously, Luke reached out and grasped Anakin's chin, catching a small finger on his lower lip. Gasping in wonder and overwhelming joy, Anakin reverently caught Luke's flailing hand in his own, and he brought his son's tiny fingers to his lips, placing a firm kiss on the soft flesh.

He felt a soft, soothing touch at the back of his neck, and Anakin looked up into Padmé's tearful eyes as she watched him and his son. She sniffed, her face scrunched with happy tears, and she leaned forward, capturing his lips softly. Anakin inhaled deeply as he felt a wave of comfort wash over him, and everything fell into place once more as he felt the incredible love for him and her family that she poured into the sweet, chaste kiss. His body remained relaxed, contented, and whole as she pulled away to lay her forehead against his, and she sighed.

"I love you so much," she whispered, and he finally gave himself over completely to the calm and relief she offered so willingly and unconditionally.

"I watched you die," he breathed.

He felt her flinch at his unexpected words, but she didn't abruptly pull out of his reach as he had been expecting. Instead, hand still curling in his hair at the nape of his neck, lightly scraping his scalp soothingly, Padmé lifted her eyes to meet his, and he did his best to hold her intense stare as his heart began to beat out of control. "Like in your dreams?" she asked, and the look she had bore in the cab returned, the one that begged for him to open up and share his burden with her, his wife. Before he could think better of it, Anakin shook his head.

"Worse. It was more than a dream," he said. He dropped his eyes to his son, who still stared at him, and within Luke's innocent stare, Anakin found his courage. "I think… I think I was shown something real, Padmé. A vision."

"A vision of what?" she asked gently, and he began playing with Luke's fingers that the infant still allowed him to hold.

"Lots of things."

"Bad?" He nodded.

"I saw my future the night Sidious died. In it, I… I killed you." She gasped, and he felt her fingers tunnel further up his head and into his long hair. He squeezed his eyes shut against the sound as his mind threatened to abandon her into yet another memory, but he breathed deeply and concentrated on the little fingers now attempting to grasp and hold onto his own, a skill he felt was more instinct than conscious.

"I was the cause of your death, Angel, or at least I was meant to be." Anakin opened his burning eyes and lifted them to hers. He found her listening intently without a shadow of judgment veiling her face. "In my vision, I pledged myself to Sidious' teachings instead of killing him, because he had made me believe that he could teach me how to stop you from dying like my mother. So, I joined the Dark Side, and he sent me to kill the Separatist leaders." Anakin took a long breath as Padmé's eyes grew sad, and he could see a sliver of anger that she was trying very hard to mask. His heart leapt in fear, but reaching out, he felt that her anger was not directed at him, but at the black cloaked liar that could have stolen him from her, and very nearly did.

"You came after me, begged and pleaded with me to turn back, that you didn't want to be saved that way, afraid that everything Obi-Wan had told you about me was true, but I didn't listen. When he came down the ramp of your ship I thought you had betrayed me, led my old master right to me so he could kill me."

"Anakin." His name was a sob from her throat, a sound that resonated loudly in its familiarity within the vision he was all but reliving, and he ducked his head downward once more, refusing to look at her. He couldn't face her, his shame over his would-be deeds overtaking everything he had. If he looked at her now, he would simply collapse and lose himself to his guilt, and he had to get everything out, had to finish, or he never would.

"I… in rage, I used the Force to try and kill you, but Obi-Wan stopped me. He left me for dead before Sidious found me. Obi-Wan saved you, kept you alive long enough to give birth, but you died anyway."

He breathed in slowly as he felt Padmé cup the back of his head and pull him towards her, resting her head on his temple as he stared at the empty bassinet in front of him, lending support without interrupting. "That night, the Force showed me the life I could have had, Padmé. A life of darkness, and it's still hard to know it's no longer real." He sucked in a shaky breath and let a hot tear trickle down his cheek. "I failed you. I failed everyone."

Luke whimpered as Padmé kissed her husband's head, which he felt was beginning to sweat from the immense effort it took to concentrate and stay in the here and now. "There's more, so much more," he whispered, and he felt Padmé's head lift from his as she gave him her undivided attention once more. Anakin glanced down at Luke instead. "I was a monster without you, driven by anger, power, control… I did such terrible things, Padmé. But Luke," he stroked his son's cheek and felt the edges of his lips prick upwards, "Luke saved me."

"Luke?" she gasped, and he nodded.

"I saw our son, Padmé. He was grown up, Obi-Wan and Master Yoda had trained him, and he was a Jedi, the last Jedi. Even after everything I had done, to him, to the galaxy, when he found out I was his father, he loved me. He knew who I used to be, what the Dark Side had done, and he even risked his own life to bring me back to the Light. In the end, he succeeded."

Finally, Anakin lifted his eyes to his wife's, meeting her equally tear filled eyes. "I couldn't let that future happen, Padmé." Anakin took his son's hand in his again and kissed the tiny fingers, reveling in the foreign, intoxicating smell of his son as he did. "I couldn't let our children live that life, and I couldn't live without you."

"Oh Ani," she whimpered, her tears overtaking her strong voice. She kissed his forehead once more and held him to her. "I don't know what to say."

A loud bark of protest broke the young parents from their consolation, and Anakin suddenly realized that Padmé's arms were now full of another tiny bundle. He smiled widely as the darker, inquisitive eyes of his daughter drank him in skeptically, her tiny brow furrowed and her arms waving wildly as she asserted her indignity at being ignored long enough. Padmé laughed as she caught one of her daughter's hands before it could scratch the delicate skin of her face, and Leia quieted as she noticed her mother's eyes were now on her.

"See, she's your daughter," Padmé giggled, swallowing past the lump in her throat as Anakin stared in wonder at his beautiful little girl who already looked so much like his equally breathtaking wife. With his family surrounding him for the first time, Anakin's mind finally felt whole, and he sighed in content, looking down at his son and smiling as Luke had fallen asleep, tucked securely in his father's arms. He may not have been there when his children were born, to hold his wife's hand through the pain, watch through the teary eyes he was certain he would have had as his son and daughter entered the galaxy, but he vowed that he would be there for the rest of their lives.


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello Dear Readers! Apologies for the slightly shorter chapter than anticipated, but IRL has been getting the better of me and I find myself sadly bogged down in everything not to do with this story. I have therefore decided to break this chapter into two, as it may be a few weeks before I can write and finish this story for all you lovely people and I didn't want to leave you hanging with nothing. Thank you all again for your brilliant reviews, and for following and favoriting this story!**

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CHAPTER 7

"I'm sorry about your head, Master."

Obi-Wan chuckled and brushed his fingers over the long-since healed wound below his crown. He raised a brow at Anakin, whose clear, sparkling blue eyes regarded him sheepishly.

"Oh don't worry, Anakin, my head's far too thick for even you to do any damage," he quipped, and Anakin's responding chuckle warmed the Jedi Master's heart. He had missed this. "Besides, we were far more concerned about your head, again!"

Anakin eyed his old master and tapped his temple. "What, this steel trap? Still working better than what's in your thick skull, old man."

"Anakin!" came his wife's sharp admonishment, though as he spied the tug on the corners of her lips, Obi-Wan knew that Padmé had missed watching the two friends banter just as much as they had missed amusing each other. The master smiled as Anakin had the good sense to look scolded as Padmé placed the basket full of clean baby clothes beside his feet, even if the happy gleam never faded from his friend's eyes.

"Sorry, my love."

Obi-Wan squeezed his former pupil's shoulder, a mix of happiness and relief overcoming him as he watched Anakin, who was lounging as far back as he could on the couch in his thin, dark under tunic, kiss Leia's head as his daughter lay curled safely in his arms, her dark eyes long since closed in peaceful sleep. Looking down to gauge her state of wakefulness, Anakin smiled and looked up at his friend. "Who would have thought we'd ever be here like this without you trying to lecture me, Master?" he whispered. Obi-Wan chuckled.

"Certainly not me, though I should have guessed you would do something as ill-advised as having children. These two are going to be hellions if they're anything like you."

Anakin's answering amused hum was cut off as Padmé leaned down to both smack Obi-Wan's arm and check on Leia herself. "I resent that very much, Master Kenobi," she retorted with no shortage of mirth lacing her voice. She turned to her husband. "I think she's finally asleep, Ani," she said, and Anakin's face fell a bit as he knew he would have to relinquish his daughter to her crib.

"And unfortunately, my friend, we have to go. The Council is expecting us soon."

Anakin sighed, and he momentarily laid his cheek against Leia's head, closing his eyes, breathing in her scent, and soaking up the moment. Even though he knew he was being watched with a mix of compassion and expectancy from both his wife and his friend, he didn't care. Anakin felt as though it had taken him a lifetime to reach this state of peace, and he'd be damned if anyone rushed him from it. Sighing once more, he gingerly stood up, careful not to jostle his sleeping daughter as he did.

"All right. I'll be out in a moment."

He gave Padmé a soft, chase kiss as he stood, feeling giddy at the thrill of being able to openly show his affection for his beautiful, amazing wife without fear in front of his former master. Sure, the Council was probably going to expel him, but for the first time in his life his heart didn't thud in pain and fear at the thought, for he knew that as long as he had her, everything would be fine.

A comfortable silence fell over the room as Padmé replaced her husband on the couch and wordlessly began folding the cleaned, tiny onesies, towels, and socks. Obi-Wan watched her with a mix of humor and awe as the incredibly poised politician fell into such a domesticated role with an effortless ease he had never expected to see. Over the past three years of working closely with Padmé from time to time during the war, Obi-Wan had always seen her as the levelheaded, strong, idealistic senator that she was, one with a head for measured diplomacy but a battle ready attitude when called for, and he had always admired her for her professional prowess. Now, as Padmé Naberrie tucked the two tiny socks into each other and set them with the rest of her children's clothing, he found himself admiring her even more.

"You're staring, Master Jedi." Obi-Wan cleared his throat guiltily as Padmé gave him a sideways glance and smirk.

"My apologies, Senator," he quipped and turned his eyes out the window where his speeder sat on the veranda. "I suppose I never expected to find you so comfortable with domesticity."

She laughed softly and reached for another onesie, this one white with pink trimming and small pink Jade roses dotting the soft fabric, clearly Leia's. "Don't be so surprised, Obi-Wan. I can be very domestic when I choose to be."

The Jedi Master smiled and turned his eyes toward the back of the apartment as he heard the melodic tinkling of what he assumed was a mobile followed by Anakin softly shutting a door. "I'm very happy that he's well enough to see me," he mused softly. Padmé sighed happily.

"Ever since I was able to bring him here, it's like everything settled for him," she said, and Obi-Wan turned back to her.

"The healers say he's made the most remarkable recovery because of you, Padmé. Is he back to his old self?" The senator shrugged.

"Yes and no. He still has nightmares, but he's not losing himself during the day anymore." Obi-Wan nodded and hummed approvingly. Padmé paused in her folding, the towel crumpling in her lap as she dropped her hands and smiled. "He's wonderful with the babies, Obi-Wan." Padmé turned to him, eyes glowing with admiration and love for the subject of her praise. "I had hoped that, when the war ended, and if we had the chance, that he would be a good father, but I never thought he'd be as wonderful as he his."

"Now there's something I never expected," Obi-Wan joked and blocked his hands as he revealed the scandalous headline, "'Anakin Skywalker: Hero with No Fear turns sappy father.'"

Padmé joined his laughter and quickly quieted herself, turning her head and listening for any infantile protests. Thankfully none came, and she turned back to the towel in her hands, folding it gently and setting it aside.

"He's happier than I've ever seen him, Obi-Wan, and not just because of the twins," she said softly, and she turned to look at Anakin's mentor. "He's calmer, gentler…"

"The healers did say that his personality could have been affected by what happened." Padmé shook her head and her eyes wandered across the room, deep in thought.

"It's more than that, Obi-Wan." Pausing, she took a breath and bit her lip before continuing. "I'm not sure how to describe it, but, it's almost as if… it's like…" She huffed in exasperation delicately. Padmé glanced out the window and Obi-Wan could do nothing but hang on the words she was desperately trying to find. For the last week and a half, he had been getting reports from the healers about Anakin's progress, and what they had told him was astonishing. Upon seeing his incredible receptiveness to his children's presence, the Council had allowed the healers to let Padmé slowly transition him to living at 500 Republica until he was well, and ultimately until the Jedi decided how to respond to his actions, both heroic and uncouth. Once again, Anakin had proven his resilience as he was now fully healed, functional, and the time for decisions had come. Obi-Wan hadn't known what to expect when he set foot in what he now supposed was his friends' home with his family, but he knew that Padmé was the only one who could truly tell him how Anakin was faring, apart from the man himself.

"It's almost as if Palpatine never existed," Padmé suddenly said, and Obi-Wan found his brows furrowing at her statement.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." Turning back to him, all joy was gone from Padmé's face, but her eyes still shone in wonderment.

"When I met him on Tatooine all those years ago, the things that struck me about Ani were how selfless, brave, kind, and… how happy he was, despite his circumstances." She smiled softly. "When he was assigned to protect me, he was still brave, but he was different. He was older, a bit brooding, which I guess should be expected, but, there was always this darker, angry side of him that frightened me, and it only got worse with the war." Padmé glanced back up at Obi-Wan from where her eyes had drifted beyond the Jedi Master. "Palpatine stole him from us slowly, took away everything from that little boy that would have made Anakin the greatest Jedi and an even better man without even breaking a sweat. And now, it truly is like that boy has grown up and is here, no darkness, no anger. It's the most incredible thing, Obi-Wan."

Stunned, Obi-Wan stroked his beard as Padmé's revelation washed over him. The difference she described in his notoriously arrogant, bull-headed pupil were nothing short of a miracle, and even with the equally impressive reports from the healers and his deep discussions with Master Yoda as this day drew closer, Obi-Wan felt his breath catch in amazement at the thought that Anakin was being rewarded for fulfilling his destiny.

"Please don't let them expel him."

His eyes snapped back to Padmé, and he noted the pleading look that had taken over her features. "What?"

"He's come so far, Obi-Wan, and it would kill him to be expelled now. I know we've broken the Code, but he has always served the Jedi above all else, regardless of how much he hated being away from home. He was unfailingly faithful to the cause during the war, and not once did he truly put anyone but himself in danger for me. Being a Jedi is his life, Obi-Wan, as much as he loves me, and I can't bear to see him lose that because of me. Please don't let that happen."

The silence hung heavily like a cloud over what had been a lighthearted moment between friends as Padmé relinquished the floor, having delivered her argument through a shaky throat, and Obi-Wan could only blink as she held his steel gaze with her vulnerable chocolate eyes.

"All right, Master. Let's go."

His voice made them both jump, and while Obi-Wan glanced towards Anakin, now fully dressed in his familiar dark tunics and robe, a welcome sight, Padmé looked away from her husband and began putting the now folded articles back into the basket that laid at her feet. Glancing between the two of them, Anakin knit his brows suspiciously and crossed his arms over his chest. "Did I miss something?"

"No," Obi-Wan answered, pulling himself out of his stupor with a shake of his head as he stood. "Come, mustn't keep the Council waiting."

Anakin eyed his former master a moment longer but, deciding it wasn't worth the effort of prying, shrugged and moved down the two steps to his wife as she stood to see them off. Obi-Wan bowed to Padmé as Anakin came up beside her.

"It's always a pleasure, Padmé."

"It was good to see you, Obi-Wan."

"I'll return him soon, I promise." Winking as Anakin rolled his eyes, Obi-Wan walked to the veranda, allowing his friend and his wife their privacy.

Laying his hand on Padmé's shoulder, Anakin stepped in front of his wife and took her in his arms. Her grip on him spoke of apprehension and a longing for him to already be returning, and he smiled. "I won't be long," he said as he released her and held her hands. Their eyes met and she equaled his loving smile. "I love you."

"I love you, Ani. We'll be here waiting for you."

He leaned down and kissed her gently, allowing her presence to wrap around him and ease the anxiety he had about his impending meeting with the Council. The feeling within the Force he had felt since Obi-Wan had contacted them a few days ago had only grown in intensity, but no matter how much quiet meditation his infant twins allowed him, all he could glean was the importance of today upon the rest of his life. In the end, as he had dreamed again last night of his adult son and his redemption, Anakin had decided to trust in the Force that he knew had given him back his life, no matter if he came home a Jedi, or just a man.

Padmé stroked his cheek as they pulled away, and with a last kiss to her forehead, Anakin squeezed her hand before following Obi-Wan to his speeder. "You know, if I drove we'd be there much faster." Obi-Wan huffed.

"Not a chance," he chuckled as he sat down behind the controls. "I still don't trust your head."

Anakin's face fell and he mockingly sulked as he dropped in beside Obi-Wan. "Now it's just insulting," he pouted, and his old master laughed as they pulled away and into traffic towards the Temple.


	9. Chapter 8

**FINALLY! It feels like forever since I've been able to finish anything that wasn't work! This one took me a long time to figure out, and hopefully it is worth the wait. Thank you to all those who have continued to favorite, follow, and review this story, and for sticking with it. There is so much I love about this rewrite, and I'm sorry to see it end, but thankfully that's not for one more chapter!**

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CHAPTER 8

They made it to the Temple in good time, despite Anakin's half-hearted grumbling at Obi-Wan's piloting. As they pulled into the landing platform closest to the Council chambers, the sun had just hit its highest point, the warm beams making the metallic city skyline sparkle, and Anakin took a moment to soak in the sight before joining Obi-Wan on what could very well be his last journey through the Temple halls.

Passing through the courtyard, the leaves an array of deep reds and golden oranges is where Anakin felt it, and it made his breath catch in its unexpected intensity. Even with young padawans stoically milling about intermixed with groups of younglings not yet chosen practicing or simply socializing, Anakin felt a soothing brush of the Force warm his whole being, and he softly smiled at a padawan about Ahsoka's age tutoring a group of younglings through meditation. The calm he'd come to associate with his home, with his wife and babies suddenly washed over him, slowing his pounding heart and quieting his growing anxiousness, and he drank in a serenity he had never felt within these walls in his life. He could feel every swoop of accomplishment from the younglings, every padawan's sigh, even the wings of the birds felt as if a soft flit against his mind as a small group dipped into the tree at the center of the courtyard, and through it all flowed the Force.

During his time healing with Padmé, Luke, and Leia, Anakin had drawn more from his now seamless connection to the Living Force, basking in its incredible power that spoke nothing of greed, lust, or ultimate control, the peaceful element of it that he had refused to embrace throughout his training and the war. As his connection to the Force grew and solidified, Anakin found himself thinking back to all the teachings Obi-Wan had attempted to instill in him about truly listening, letting go, and allowing the Force to assist in his very life rather than trying to control it. Now, fully healed from his ordeal, Anakin could see more deeply into the omnipresent element that had always been manipulated easily, but the true nature of which he had never fully understood, and he felt foolish. He had been young, impetuous, impatient, and egotistical, qualities that allowed Palpatine's dark influence to encompass him and infiltrate his very core, keeping the true mysteries of the Force just beyond the tips of his fingers, but as the birds settled into the tree and the soft wind caused his curls to flutter as they entered the halls once more, Anakin breathed a deep sigh as he felt for the first time like a true Jedi Knight in tuned with the Force.

"Are you all right?" Obi-Wan asked from his side, and Anakin glanced at his friend, who was watching him carefully. The usual twinge of annoyance at being looked upon like a brooding child nowhere in sight, Anakin simply nodded.

"I'm fine, Master," he said, glancing up at the cavernous ceilings of the Temple atrium. "It's just good to be back. It feels like it was a lifetime ago." Obi-Wan chuckled.

"You were out of sorts last time."

Anakin smiled as they passed through the warm fountain room and into the more closed halls leading to the lift that would take them to the Council chambers, the thin carpets a stark contrast from the impeccably polished marble. "It feels good to be in control of my own mind again."

"I have no doubt," his friend said.

They continued in silence for a while, their boots striking the soft floors with purpose before Obi-Wan abruptly stopped. Knitting his brows, Anakin turned to find the master looking out on the shimmering skyline, lost in thought. "Obi-Wan?"

Their eyes met and Anakin took in the soft, almost emotional look Obi-Wan gave him as he took a step toward his former master. Stroking his beard once, Obi-Wan met Anakin's confused gaze.

"Anakin, before we go in, I just wanted to tell you how…" he sighed as if holding himself together, "… how deeply pleased I am that you are well again. When I first saw you, I thought we were going to lose you, and then to be told about your mental state…" He paused again, and Anakin placed his hand firmly on Obi-Wan's shoulder. He had never seen his master this way and was at an actionable loss. Letting out a deep breath, Obi-Wan raised his steel grey eyes to Anakin's own blue. "The point is, I can feel the immense change in you, Anakin, and I am very proud of you for the strength you have shown. But, you're my brother, and I only wish I could have helped you. I can't help but feel that the circumstances that led to what happened are my fault, and I'm sorry I didn't listen to you sooner."

"Master, I…"

A blur of brown colliding with Obi-Wan stilled Anakin's sentiments as a group of padawans barreled down the hall. Displaying the legendary Jedi reflexes, Obi-Wan steadied the teen despite the wind being somewhat blown from his body at the sudden impact. The young padawan glanced up anxiously at the Jedi he had almost toppled, and his eyes grew wide.

"Master Kenobi, forgive me, I didn't see you!"

As the boy bowed incredibly low in a show of nervous humility, Anakin barely held in a chuckle behind his gloved hand at the familiarity of the scene, he himself having almost run over a few notable Order members as he adjusted to the stoic grace that came with adulthood. He remembered how his lanky form quickly outgrew his natural athletic abilities, making for a few incidents just like this one before he finally grew into his body. Seeing that this boy was hitting that Force awful age, Anakin couldn't help but feel the deepest sympathy. Luckily for the boy, Obi-Wan was in good spirits, as he simply laid a patient hand on his shoulder, his face softening.

"It's all right, young one. Accidents happen." The padawan loudly expelled a nervous breath before standing straight and righting his robes. Obi-Wan's eyes sparkled with recognition as he turned the boy towards his former pupil.

"Anakin, this is Caleb Dume, Master Bilaba's new padawan."

Caleb bowed to Anakin in greeting, his shaggy brown hair so much like Anakin's own falling into his eyes before he stood straight again. Anakin smiled. "It's nice to…" Caleb nervously ran a hand through his hair, revealing his bright, inquisitive sea blue eyes, and Anakin felt his heart stop. A similar face, older, bearded, and filled with determination bordered by barely contained fear flashed in his mind's eye. Even without the red blade of the monsters' saber tainting his face an ominous red, Anakin recognized the forever haunted, fledgling rebel Jedi from his dreams. Pulling himself back, remembering where and when he was, Anakin blinked and cleared his throat. "It's nice to meet you, Caleb."

"Caleb attended one of my lectures on the Temple's security systems. He's quite the inquisitive one, perhaps a bit too much so."

Anakin laughed. "I'm sure Master Bilaba appreciates that."

Caleb ran his hands through his hair glancing down at the floor sheepishly. "Nothing wrong with being curious, Master Kenobi."

Anakin and Obi-Wan chuckled at his obvious discomfort. "We're going to be late," Obi-Wan announced, but as he patted the boy's shoulder and continued down towards the Council's chambers, Anakin studied Caleb Dume, the boy who would have grown into the unwitting prey of the galaxy. He would have been yet another victim of Anakin's weakness, one who only deserved to live the life he led now, not that of a fugitive bouncing from one hideout to another. Reaching out, Anakin felt the nervous energy behind the boy's presence under the knight's scrutiny, but Anakin also felt more. He felt Caleb's friends waiting for him at the end of the hall, whispering about his unexpected run-in with two of the Order's most famous. He felt the carefree presences of the younglings, knights, and masters throughout the Temple going about their tasks, be they study, lightsaber practice, or simply relaxing in the warmth of Coruscant's sun, and he felt a tear sting his eye. All of them could have been dead, dying, or hunted to the far reaches of the galaxy and back, and once again, Anakin thanked the Force for showing him his dark path, and giving him the chance to make things right.

Caleb shifted his feet, bringing Anakin back from his musings, and just as the boy's hand moved to his hair once more the young knight stopped him gently. Laying his hand on the padawan's shoulder, Anakin sent him calming pulses, just as he did with his own children whenever they awoke in the middle of the night, before smiling and flicking the ends of Caleb's unruly hair.

"If you tie it back, no one will know you're nervous," he simply said, and Caleb raised his wide blue eyes to Anakin's own.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan beckoned him, and with a firm grip to Caleb's shoulder, Anakin left the boy to his friends as he followed Obi-Wan.

They entered the lift and the pair fell silent once more. With each second ticking by drawn out by the lack of conversation and the normally soothing hum of the ascending lift, Anakin found himself reminding his body to breathe, in and out, as he attempted to find the calm to quiet his mournful thoughts at recognizing Caleb's face. The very real possibility that this could be his last time making this towering journey to the Council was causing his heart to pound with a fear so powerful as he contemplated the other reasons the Jedi had to expel him besides his marriage to Padmé. Anakin was certain that as soon as they learned of what their fate at his dark hands could have been that any thought of contemplation to the contrary would fly out the window.

In and out. In and out.

Though his rhythmic breathing was helping a bit, Anakin felt that he had to pull his mind away from contemplating any void left in his life without the Order and instead concentrate on what waited for him at home regardless. Images of Padmé's smiling face as she looked at him from across the sofa, cradling a contented Leia while he finished feeding Luke flew to his mind. The gentle weight of his son against his chest as he raised him to his shoulder and began patting his back firmly brought an unyielding smile to Anakin's face, both in his mind's eye and the lift.

His fear over how much his life was about to change was still palpable, but if there was one thing that he had learned from his infant twins, it was how to let go, accept his fear and move past it, control it while he dealt with whatever his very demanding children needed. Leia had taught him that lesson well, as he found himself a few nights over the past week walking around their home, soothing an unknown, incurable malady as she simply begrudged him and her mother for leaving her alone in her crib to sleep for the night. The first night, he had tried everything: feeding, changing, holonet, sitting and rocking, but nothing took the quiver out of her lip or dried her tears. At his wits end and moments away from waking the wife he had promised not to wake, Anakin had simply brought his restless daughter to his shoulder, connected their cheeks, and sent soothing pulses to her through the Force as he whispered and talked to his little princess. Though she didn't respond at first, her father's rumbling voice and the Force's touch eventually quieted Leia's cries, and Anakin could only smile and chuckle in relief as she buried her face into her father's shoulder.

The memory at how deep he reached within himself to control his fear for the sake of his family calmed him, the power he felt at finally being in control of what had stunted him most was more than anything he had ever felt since the Force showed him his life in the darkness. Even with a similar fear at the unknown pounding at his mental walls, Anakin seized it and held it steady. He would not allow his fear over things he didn't yet know to control him. He would simply trust in the Force and follow whatever path it chose to set for him, like a true Jedi.

In and out. In and out.

"What are you thinking about?" Obi-Wan's voice pulled him from a now well-established calming technique, and he met the master's curious, steady gaze.

"Nothing, Master," Anakin replied. Obi-Wan shrugged.

"It must be something, you're radiating happiness."

Anakin's smile grew wider and he huffed a short laugh. His master could always read him. "I'm just thinking of the twins."

Obi-Wan simply nodded beside him. "Fatherhood suits you," he said with an utmost honesty that caused Anakin to turn slack-jawed to his former master. Obi-Wan smirked affectionately at his expression. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were going soft, my friend."

Anakin laughed heartily at that. "You wish, old man." Their shared laugh quieted, and they fell into a comfortable silence. "They've taught me so much, Obi-Wan."

"I've heard children do that."

The lift doors suddenly opened, and Anakin took a long, deep breath as the tall doors of the Council chambers loomed before him. This was it. He felt Obi-Wan place that same patient, comforting hand on his shoulder that he remembered from his childhood. It was a gesture of solidarity, of strength, and affection, and Anakin felt himself breath a bit easier on the knowledge that, no matter what, Obi-Wan was with him.

"The Council might surprise you, Anakin," he said softly, and though he didn't meet his gaze, Anakin acknowledged the statement with a tilt of his head. Taking one last breath of calming air, Anakin straightened his back and stepped forward, the Council chamber doors swishing open for him softly.

The moment he set foot in the circular chamber, Anakin was bombarded by an array of mixed feelings upon his entrance. Though the masters of the Jedi Council worked to shield their thoughts as they always did, Anakin felt everything. The combination of mistrust, uncertainty, confidence, and curiosity hit him like an out of control speeder, and he again had to remind himself to breathe.

As he stepped into the center of the circle, Obi-Wan patting his shoulder affectionately before taking his seat, Anakin took in the faces of his fate. Masters Yoda and Windu beheld him with a mix of relief and concern, while Plo Koon, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Coleman Kcaj remained impassive. Stass Allie stared at him with a critical eye, and he sense much tension and pent up frustration from within the normally soft-spoken master. The newest members, Eeth Koth and Depa Bilaba, couldn't have held more opposing feelings for him. While Koth almost glared at Anakin, his frustration over whatever was to happen perfectly clear, Bilaba was proving incredibly difficult to read. She was peaceful, quiet, much like Yoda and Mundi, staring at him with her penetrating brown eyes, and Anakin remembered why she was one of the most revered masters in the Order. He took a shaky breath, soaked in everything the Force was allowing him to feel, and released his fears into the Light as he faced Master Yoda and bowed.

"Knight Skywalker," Yoda addressed him as Anakin stood straight, "a great joy it brings to see you recovered."

"Thank you, Master." Anakin bowed again. The chamber fell silent momentarily, but Anakin refused to fidget under the many pairs of eyes that watched him. He stood as calmly as he could be, exuding more serenity than he felt. Though his heartbeat was beginning to slow, the fluttering in his stomach refused to waver, but Anakin remained determined to prove to his longtime doubters that his fear was no longer in control.

"How feel you?" Yoda finally asked, flashing Anakin back to his very first encounter with this Council, somewhat lightening the mood for the pensive knight. He huffed a laugh as he remembered his past nerves and all the fear that he had sensed around him. Though some of those feelings still remained, Anakin wasn't as strangled by their strength as he had once been upon entering this room, and he hoped that the reasoning was in his favor.

"I am well, Master." Yoda nodded.

"Very good. Much more than well, I sense from you, Anakin."

Anakin swallowed and nodded, silently acknowledging what he knew all of the Jedi could feel. He was a changed man, risen from the ashes of a life altering experience, lifted off his heels by something he desperately hoped that he would be allowed to embrace as a Jedi: love.

"A mystery still to us, your affliction is," Yoda continued. Master Windu chose that moment to sit forward in his chair and tent his fingers below his chin.

"It was an incredibly brave thing you did, Skywalker," he said, and Anakin blinked as he saw a trust in Windu's eyes he never expected nor thought that he would ever see directed at him from the Haruun Kal master. "You saved my life and the galaxy, but I cannot even begin to explain to this Council what I experienced when Sidious died."

Dropping his eyes, Anakin held them shut for a moment, centering himself while acknowledging his growing unease about recounting his experience with the Force and his almost future. It still pained him every time he walked himself through the difficult process of recounting everything he had seen while remaining firmly planted in the life the Force had given back to him, even though he no longer questioned his reality. Releasing his fears into the Light with a sigh, Padmé's face guiding him further into calming clarity, he raised his head and somehow managed to speak without his voice shaking.

"Unfortunately, I almost didn't save anyone's life that night, Master Windu, and had it not been for the Force, I would have made a terrible mistake." The sounds of confusion made their way around the gathered masters in waves, the implications of Anakin's statement bubbling beneath the surface of speculation. "Before that night, I had been having dreams of my wife's death as she gave birth to our children, dreams which I now know to have been calculated manipulations by Sidious to seduce me to the Dark Side." Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan, who met his sorrowful gaze. "He is also responsible for the dreams about my mother." Though his expression barely shifted, Anakin saw the remorse and grief in his former master's eyes. He turned back to the grand master.

"I was on the verge of preventing Master Windu from killing Sidious, believing him and his teachings to be Padmé's only hope." He ignored Koth's scoff from behind him and continued. "But in that moment, the Force granted me a real vision. I saw something Obi-Wan and I experienced together during the war two years ago, but we were made to forget it."

"We were made… what do you mean?" his master asked, flabbergasted. Anakin turned to him.

"You, me, and Ahsoka had been sent out to investigate an old Jedi distress signal, and we found a planet pulsing with the Living Force. There were three beings there, all attempting to control the power within the planet in their own way, one light, one neutral, and one dark. The dark one, The Son, showed me my future, but our memories were wiped when we were returned home." Obi-Wan had the most spectacular mixture of confusion, disbelief, and awe etched in his eyes. Had the circumstances been lighter, Anakin would have laughed.

"That night, when Sidious died, the Force showed me that future that was hidden from me, and I knew what I had to do."

Obi-Wan closed his gaping mouth and swallowed, the sad, distressed aura that surrounded Anakin sucking any levity he could bring to the moment. "What future, Anakin?"

The knight drew in a steadying breath before delving further into the black hole he was certain he was steadily building for himself. He relayed his massacre of the Jedi, including younglings, his duel with his master that left him scarred and in a suit, Padmé's eventual death despite everything, and the galaxy under the rule of a tyrannical Sith while he, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, scoured the galaxy for the ultimate power and control he so desperately desired. He spoke of the rebellion, his cruelty and torture of the many faces he could still see clearly if he squeezed his eyes hard enough, and his obsessive search for those who sought to destroy the Empire. But, most of all, Anakin spoke of his son and Luke's unyielding love for a father he both hated but couldn't all at once, and Anakin's ultimate redemption because of the purity of his son's love and his belief in his father.

"Despite everything I had done, he truly believed there was still good in me, and he was right."

Silence, as he had expected, the calm before the eventual storm of cries for his expulsion. Every master sat rigid in their chairs in various states of shock and contemplation. Some had dropped their eyes from him long ago, while still others scrutinized Anakin throughout his dark tale. Anakin felt his heart flutter in fearful anticipation, but he forced himself to remember everything he still had waiting for him at home and how full his life would continue to be, Jedi or not. He took hold of his fear and used his control to keep his feet from shuffling and his eyes from roaming. The Force was steadying him just as much as his inner strength, telling him that all would be well as he held Master Yoda's steady gaze, refusing to look away. Slowly, the aged grand master nodded solemnly.

"Quite the journey you have had, young Skywalker, hmm?"

Anakin laughed grimly. "You could say that, Master."

Yoda hummed, and a quick glance passed between him, Master Windu, and Obi-Wan before he met Anakin's gaze again. "A grim future we all could have faced had you not had the clarity of spirit to finally heed the words of the Force. Proud and pleased, am I, that so far from the frightened youngling and war general you have come, Anakin."

"There can be no doubt that the destruction of the Sith, Skywalker's victory, was the will of the Force," Master Koon spoke up.

"Indeed," Windu added.

"The fear that would have led me to those actions I saw is still with me, Masters, but I am able to control it more than I ever have with the Force, and Padmé as my guide."

"Yes. At great length, we have discussed your attachment to Senator Amidala." Anakin's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach despite how much he had prepared himself for the inevitable words. He tilted his head in acknowledgment as he heard Depa Bilaba's rich voice from behind him.

"How long have you been married to the Senator, Skywalker?" she asked softly, and Anakin felt confusion at the simplicity of her question, unhindered by judgment or distain. He turned to face her, not even bothering to hide his happy smile at the mention of his wife.

"Almost four years now, Master. We fell in love when I was assigned to protect her while assassination attempts threatened her life, and we were married shortly after the Battle of Geonosis."

"So, you were married throughout the Clone Wars. Interesting," Bilaba mused before turning her thoughtful gaze towards Obi-Wan. "Did you know of this, Master Kenobi?" Obi-Wan turned his eyes to his former student, who stood tall, unafraid, and overall open to what was happening around him. The Light energy pulsing through Anakin as he accepted the Council's interrogation without his usual disgruntled attitude was illuminating, and Obi-Wan knew that every Council member could feel it.

"I had my suspicions about Anakin's feelings for the Senator, but no, I knew nothing of their involvement. I must reiterate, Masters, that Anakin's performance in the Clone Wars is indicative of how much his attachment of his wife did nothing to weaken him as a protector."

"Master Kenobi, Skywalker's incredible achievements in the galaxy's bleakest years were never in question," Mundi spoke up. "Rather, what we wished to ascertain was how his attachment affected him as a Jedi…"

"… And how much influence the Dark Side had over his actions because of it," Stass Allie finished, and Anakin swallowed at the very familiar wariness he felt radiating from her and Master Koth beside her. The old Anakin would have boiled over with barely contained indignation and frustration, allowing his uncontrolled emotions to get the better of him and the situation. But, more than just Anakin's attitude towards the Jedi and life in general had changed, and he quietly reveled in the distinct lack of anger and petulance rising within him. His calm was coupled with the deep, haunting realization that they had no reason to trust him. After all, he had just openly admitted how much influence the Dark Side had held over him before the Force's revelations, admitting to almost massacring the very Order he claimed to respect because of the Sith's seductive promises. No matter what heroic deeds he had accomplished in the past, either during the war or before, Anakin had never earned their trust, had never worked hard enough to take the control of his emotions he felt now, damning his master's teachings to not understanding him as a person rather than seeing the difference between controlling his feelings and denying their very existence. Once more, Anakin berated himself for being so blind and arrogant in his own abilities and self-importance as the Chosen One, and standing stoically under the Council's scrutiny, Anakin simply allowed all the thoughts and barely controlled feelings he sensed around him to fuel his desire to prove himself.

"Skywalker saved us all," Windu stated firmly, perhaps a bit too firmly. "If it hadn't been for him, we would all be dead, and the Order along with us."

"Master Windu, I have to disagree," Koth responded harshly. "Without the Force, Skywalker would have given into what Sidious offered, he has admitted so himself! It is the Force we should be thanking, not Skywalker, who has never truly embraced the Jedi way."

"Is it not our duty as Jedi Masters to remain vigilant students and learn from everything we have been shown by the Force?" Bilaba countered. "Yes, Skywalker was on the verge of turning because of his attachment, but the result of that attachment, his children, brought him back."

"It is his marriage that led him to that precipice in the first place!"

"Master Koth," Obi-Wan all but roared, "surely you can sense how his love for his wife and children has grounded him!"

"Sidous is gone, and with him his dark influence over Skywalker, and the galaxy," Master Koon stated, threading his fingers together. "Without Sidious' influence, Skywalker is clearly very different from the young man we used to know."

"But what is to say that he will not succumb eventually?" Master Allie asked quietly, and Anakin sensed that she was posing the question merely to say she had done so.

A low hum drew all debate to a halt and all eyes turned to the aged grand master. Yoda had his eyes closed in quiet contemplation. Every Jedi in the chamber grew silent and patiently waited for him to speak. Slowly, Yoda opened his eyes and glanced knowingly around the room. "Enough debate, we have had on this topic, and yet, only one mind is fully open, I sense." Yoda fixed his strong stare on Anakin, who couldn't help but shift his feet as Yoda studied him. "Before you, a lesson stands, but the teachings, you are not hearing. Not of the Dark Side, Anakin's attachment is, and now purged of the Dark Side, his love a strength it is, not a weakness.

"Clear, it is, that his attachment led to his fear, but more clear now is the role Sidious played in growing that fear. Remember, the Force showed a dark path, but, it is to the one it speaks that the decision falls." Yoda cleared his throat and firmly addressed Anakin. "Young Skywalker, a trial of the Force, you have had."

"Yes, Master," Anakin nodded. Yoda hummed and bobbed his head in thought.

"I ask once more, how feel you?"

In and out.

"I feel the fear that comes with thinking that anyone I care for will die. I always have, and that fear will always be with me. But, I also feel that I finally understand what Master Kenobi has always been trying to teach me, and my children have helped me learn how to control my fear and act on rational thought rather than my emotions. Without that control, I could not be a father to them. I know I haven't been the best Jedi, or even the kind of man than this Order wanted from me, and I am willing to accept whatever judgment you deem necessary, Master," Anakin said with a bow, willing them to see the clarity he held to the very deep recesses of his soul and the tightly controlled emotions that no longer clouded either his connection to the Force or his judgment.

"So far," Yoda mused almost to himself before he tapped his gimmer stick on the floor, grabbing Anakin's attention. "Anakin Skywalker, confer on you the level of Jedi Master, and a seat on this Council, we grant you."

He must have misheard. Slowly, Anakin raised his head and stared at the head of the Jedi Order. He reached into the Force, and though he felt silent dissent amongst two or three members, the Jedi Council majority was in unwavering agreement. He was a Jedi Master, a Council member, but most outrageously, he was accepted, respected, and trusted, a decision, though hotly contested, reached and consented to several days before he had even set foot in the Temple halls. He felt tears of humility and disbelief sting his eyes, but he swallowed them along with the lump in his throat as he soaked in the overwhelming feeling of finally belonging where he had always wanted to be accepted. It was everything he had always wanted. He bowed as low as he dared.

"I am deeply honored, Masters," he breathed before he cleared his throat and stood to his full height. "I will endeavor to live up to every standard you set, and I will not fail you."

"Very good, Master Skywalker." He barely contained the bashful, proud smile at the prestigious title.

"Padmé…?" He couldn't hope to get that lucky twice in one day, but Yoda stilled his question with a raised hand.

"Give you strength, she does," the grand master declared. "Accept your marriage, we do."

Anakin couldn't believe it, and he turned to glance at Obi-Wan, who had the biggest grin Anakin had ever seen on his face. It was all true. The newly knighted master bowed once more, barely controlling the elation and disbelief he felt coursing through him at the realization that, incredibly, he had received everything he never thought he would have at once.

"I am overwhelmed, Masters." He felt the dissenters, Koth, Allie, and Kcaj release their frustration into the Force as he stood, a full-fledged Master. "What does this mean for the rule of attachment? Are you amending it?"

Uneasy whispers met his question as every master turned to each other with reactions ranging from affronted to only mildly surprised. As Anakin stood waiting for a response, he suddenly realized that, from his unwavering connection to the Force, he already had his answer, and his face fell. "I'm the exception to the rule, aren't I?" he asked quietly, and a sadness began to brew in his heart.

"Anakin," Mace began, pulling Anakin's gaze to him, "the rule of attachment was put into place for the very reason you almost fell."

"But, it was my son who saved me," Anakin countered.

"You also had unparalleled guidance from the Force, Anakin," Mace continued, "guidance that takes years to master."

"If we suddenly allowed younglings and padawans to form romantic attachments and marry, there is no telling how unpredictable they would become," Master Mundi said. "Their training, and perhaps the Order, could suffer."

"It is something that we should consider given our own inability to sense Sidious' intentions." Master Bilaba's statement rose more than a few eyebrows.

"Blind sided by Sidious, we were indeed, Master Bilaba," Yoda acquiesced. "But such evolution of the Code, dangerous, it could be."

"What good would it do, Masters, to have Jedi ruled by their emotions for each other, clouding their connection to the Force?" Master Koth countered.

"Perhaps the lesson we should learn from Anakin is that love doesn't necessarily cloud if used with the Force correctly," Obi-Wan put in, and once more, Anakin was floored by his Master's open mindedness. What by the suns of Tatooine had happened to the rigid, by-the-book Jedi Master Anakin had grown up with?

"Regardless of your own faith in your student, Master Kenobi, you cannot deny that proper training, whatever that would entail, is not enough to derail what has been in place for thousands of years!" Koth declared, Allie and Kcaj nodding in agreement.

"I could teach them."

All eyes slowly turned toward Anakin. He held Master Yoda's gaze steadily. "If the rule of attachment were amended, I could teach the younglings how to control their emotions, allow them to be a part of their lives without giving them power over their actions. If I am to be a lesson, then let me pass down my knowledge, what the Force has taught me, and what I have learned myself. Love, friendship, attachment, call it what you will, it can finally be used in our favor. The Jedi will have the ability to connect with those we protect without sacrificing anything."

"There is no need to connect to those we possibly cannot help, Master Skywalker." Master Koth spit the title as though it insulted him to even think of Anakin as his equal, but Anakin merely took a breath, stilled his rising frustration, and continued to appeal to Yoda.

"When I lost my mother, Master Yoda, I had no idea how to deal with her death. Granted, the Dark Side was heavily ingrained in me, but I frightened myself with my own actions. If I had been allowed to see her, to learn how to accept my fear and control it, use my attachment to her to protect her and the peoples of the galaxy rather than thinking that my love for my own mother made me weak, perhaps those Tuskens would still be alive." He had spoken with Yoda and Obi-Wan about what he had done, but the gasps at his revelation went around the circle like fire. "Knowing how to accept my grief and focus it for good could have saved that village. I know attachment can be channeled for the good of the Order, Master. Please, I don't have to be the only one."

The Council fell silent as Anakin and Yoda stared at each other, Obi-Wan holding his breath. Deep within him, Anakin felt the truth of everything he said being whispered across his connection to the Force. He couldn't be the only one; he refused to be a special case for yet another reason. He had been one all his life. The only human podracer, the oldest person accepted for Jedi training, one of the youngest to be knighted because he was the Chosen One, and now the only Jedi allowed a family. Reaching out, Anakin sensed the tension within the chamber, and seeking a calming light to hang onto for comfort, Anakin reached further, across the skyline of the massive city, and into the quiet peace of his children's nursery. He brushed their still sleeping minds with the lightness of a feather before pulling away and returning to the Temple.

"Sorry, I am, Master Skywalker," Yoda finally said with an uncharacteristic somber edge to his voice. "But see, I cannot, the outcome of such a change in the Code."

Anakin took a shaky breath as he began to ruminate over the full implications of Yoda's words. Not only was he to be singled out again, regardless of his heroism, but it seemed that business as usual would remain the every day for all Jedi. It was as if no Sith had just threatened the Order's very existence, as no steps were to be taken to ensure that such a danger as turning the Chosen One of the Jedi Order to the Dark Side could happen again. The anger Anakin expected to feel at such an arrogant outlook never came, only a feeling of immense sadness that filled his whole being.

"So, nothing will change," he stated quietly, and the Council's silence was his answer. Anakin swallowed, clenched his jaw, and considered everything that had just taken place. He was a master and a member of the Jedi Council, but now he no longer knew whether he had been given the title out of some obligation given his deeds, or whether the Council truly respected him. He had always dreamed of having the mastership while also being allowed to publically call Padmé his wife, but it still didn't feel like enough. The Council appeared to want progress, or at least a few progressive members did, but what about the rest of them? Anakin felt himself drawn back to what had begun fermenting his doubts about the Jedi, and it made his spine tingle with disgust as he remembered Sidious' words. His "worries" about the Jedi's arrogance and closed minds to anything that they couldn't sense rang very true in Anakin's mind, and everything he could sense from the most stubborn members gave credence to the Sith's words. It wasn't that they didn't trust him, it was simply their inability to accept change on faith that all will be well, despite their insistence upon having such faith in the Force.

Slowly, Anakin's gaze dropped to the chrome-plated lightsaber hooked to his belt, polished to gleaming perfection the night before. He remembered seeing it blazing in his son's hands as the young, barely trained Luke faced his father on Bespin, and Anakin's thoughts wandered back to his twins. Anyone with even a mild affinity for the Force could sense how strong his children were with it, and they would make exceptional Jedi. A pang suddenly hit Anakin's heart as that thought reverberated through his mind. They would want Luke and Leia for their Order, and with the rule of attachment still firmly in place… Anakin felt tears well in his eyes at the thought. After everything he had been through, the journey back to himself from the depths of Force induced trauma, his days as a father to his children were the happiest he had ever experienced. He had destroyed the Sith to save his children from a life without him and Padmé, but, if they did become Jedi, he would be walking the halls with his two children who wouldn't know their father, or their mother. More lies, more deception, his heart couldn't take it, and no amount of self-control in the galaxy could help that. He would not live without his children, he simply wouldn't.

Calming his shaking breath but refusing to hide his tears, Anakin raised his eyes to Master Yoda's.

"Masters, I destroyed the Sith with the guidance of the Force, something no one else was able to do because of the cloud of the Dark Side. If nothing but my position within this Order is to change, regardless of how deeply Sidious penetrated everything around us, then it is not an Order that I can be a part of."

The depth of disbelief radiating from every master present hit him hard, but Anakin stood his ground as he sadly and reverently unhooked his lightsaber from his belt. He sniffed quietly as the gravity of what he was about to do sunk in, but he followed the urging in his head, his path just as clear before him as when he had stopped Sidious from killing Master Windu. The sadness in Yoda's eyes struck him as realization hit the grand master. With his lightsaber held in his hand before him, Anakin's sorrowful eyes met Yoda's.

"I resign my place as Master of the Jedi Order."

The words were simple, but the weight behind them grounded all who heard. Not waiting for a response, Anakin bowed, and slowly approached Obi-Wan. He held is lightsaber out for his friend, knowing the weapon shouldn't go to anyone else. "I'm ready to go home, Obi-Wan," he said as Obi-Wan took Anakin's weapon, but the Jedi simply stared at the gleaming saber in his hands, his sadness and incredulity over what had just happened the strongest of all. Beginning to feel far too much like an outsider suddenly and wanting to escape the confines of the circular chamber, Anakin turned from Obi-Wan back to Yoda, bowed, and walked with purpose, slowed only slightly by his deep sorrow, out of the Council chamber he had only moments ago been accepted into.

The closer he drew to the Temple's landing pad, the faster Anakin walked, feeling as though if he remained within the halls any longer he would change his mind. But he couldn't, and suddenly, passing through the Room of a Thousand Fountains, the memory of running after his padawan as she made her own difficult decision washed over him. He hadn't fully understood Ahsoka's reasoning then, so entrenched in the war he didn't know how long he hadn't been thinking clearly as he grew angrier and more grim. But now, he felt more connected to her than he ever had been, and everything she had said came back to him in a rush. The Council hadn't trusted her, yet in their arrogance they had thought that by simply saying they were sorry that everything would be repaired and go back to normal. He had thought that.

Crossing the courtyard, the birds long since moved on from the tree, Anakin realized how blind he had been to the wisdom Ahsoka had been imparting to him. Her life had been forever changed, much like his, and if the Council couldn't give him guidance and a place where he felt like he could make a difference because of his experience, then it was time for the Chosen One to step aside.

It was in front of the speeder that Obi-Wan caught up with him, calling his name as his boots fell heavily against the stone. "Anakin, hang on!" he called, and Anakin stopped, turning to his former master as the older Jedi stopped in front of him, his cloak billowing out behind him and wrapping around his legs with his sudden change in momentum. The two stared at each other silently, each thinking of what to say, Obi-Wan breathing a bit heavily, Anakin's lightsaber still clutched in his hand. "What… happened in there?" he finally asked incredulously. "One minute you were a master, and the next…"

Anakin sighed, knowing that no matter how hard Obi-Wan tried, he would never be able to understand. Obi-Wan Kenobi had never wanted to walk away from the Order. He believed everything Anakin had regurgitated back to his apprentice as she left, that the Order was her life, words that felt hollow in his mouth now, but they were everything to his former master.

"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan, but you wouldn't understand."

Obi-Wan huffed angrily. "Try, Anakin, because what I don't understand is what just happened!"

Anakin breathed deeply, tamping down his frustration, knowing it wouldn't do him any favors. It never did when Obi-Wan was like this.

"Nothing was going to change, Obi-Wan," he finally said as calmly as he could manage. "They had a Sith Lord knocking at their doorstep, and they were acting like it hadn't happened, like it only affected me." He took another calming breath as Obi-Wan continued to stare at him in confusion. "I can't live without my children, Obi-Wan."

"What? Your marriage isn't a problem, Anakin, the Council…"

"I know, Obi-Wan, but the rule of attachment…"

"You can't expect massive changes like that over night, Anakin."

The younger man sighed and shook his head, pulling his gaze away from Obi-Wan. "They're strong. I know you can sense it." Obi-Wan fell silent at the mournful tone in Anakin's voice. His former apprentice turned his haunted eyes back to his face, and he felt the moment Obi-Wan grasped the full significance of why Anakin couldn't stay on the Council of an Order that wouldn't fully accept him. "I can't walk these halls with them and only be known as Master Skywalker. I can't… I won't do that to Padmé."

He saw Obi-Wan nod as the Jedi ran his fingers thoughtfully along the hilt of Anakin's weapon. Silence reined between the brothers once more before Obi-Wan held the lightsaber out for Anakin.

"You're going to need this."

Anakin's eyes widened, and he backed away slightly. "Only Jedi carry lightsabers." Obi-Wan shrugged.

"You'll always be a Jedi, Anakin, and if you're going to train your own children, it will come in handy."

Anakin smiled for what felt like the first time in hours as he took the offered weapon and returned it to its rightful place on his hip. He looked up as Obi-Wan placed his hand on Anakin's shoulder firmly. "For what it's worth, I agree with you. Perhaps change is needed. I will let you know when it comes, and the door will always be open for you, Anakin Skywalker."

He felt tears sting his eyes as he laughed. "Please stop acting like we're never going to see each other again. You know where I live." Obi-Wan laughed.

"But I might not always. With the Senate in what seems like continuous disarray, it wouldn't surprise me if your wife decided she'd had enough."

"Who, Padmé? Never." Dispensing with all formality, Anakin decided that now was as good a time as ever, and he hugged his friend. He felt Obi-Wan tense, but quickly return Anakin's unexpected show of affection. "Thank you, Obi-Wan, for everything." Anakin pulled out of the hug and sniffed. "If you ever want to train another Skywalker, I have two of them for you." That got a full laugh from Obi-Wan as he dabbed his own eyes.

"I think I've had my fill of Skywalkers for one lifetime, thank you. It's your turn now."

"You're not going to tell the Council that I'm training Jedi outside the Order?" Obi-Wan shook his head.

"More Council members agreed with you than you think, Anakin, and though changes like that take time, it might happen sooner than you expect."

"I understand."

They stood in silence for a moment, Anakin taking the opportunity to take a final look at the place he had once called home. It was the place that had sheltered him even though it was against their will at first, the walls of which his story could be seen from every corner, and the chamber he had hoped one day to sit within. But not like this. Finally, Obi-Wan motioned toward the speeder.

"Let's get you home, Anakin." He nodded at his friend, and the two took their respective places. As Obi-Wan powered up the speeder, Anakin took one final glance, soaked in all the beauty against Coruscant's beaming sun, and didn't let his gaze wander from the stone carvings of Jedi Masters until Obi-Wan pulled them into traffic and out of sight.


	10. Chapter 9

**Here it is at last, the final chapter! I wanted to thank you all for continuing to follow, favorite, and review this story as well as being patient with me as I, unfortunately, allowed life and writer's block to get the better of me for far too long.**

 **To those who reviewed with ideas of where to take this final chapter (as well as those who thought it could end where it was left), thank you so much for your insight and for caring enough to lend me your thoughts. This final piece was where I had wanted the story to get to from the very get go, and I knew there was more Anakin needed to face with the situation that he had created for himself before he could actually move forward, and only two people could really do that for him. So, without further ado, the final chapter!**

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CHAPTER 9

"Oh Master, they're so cute!"

Anakin chuckled, sitting beside his former apprentice as Ahsoka Tano, now a bright, worldly young woman threw a lekku over her right shoulder so she could cradle his nearly seven week old son closer. His sister still slept peacefully after a long and arduous night that was, unfortunately, becoming quite regular for her, but Luke was bright and cheery, granting Ahsoka a wide smile as she offered him her fingers. He managed to grip one as she waved them for him to see, bringing a bigger smile to hers and his father's faces.

"Careful, Snips, he's already got a good grip," Anakin teased. Ahsoka merely gave her former master a sidelong scowl before returning her attention to the baby in her arms.

It had taken some persuasion, but his old friend Rex had finally given Anakin the contact information he needed to make this moment possible. His final encounter with the Council had thrown his only recently healed mind into overdrive, and two days later, he realized his strong, deep desire to reconnect with his pupil. He didn't know why, but the Force led him to Rex, urging him towards Ahsoka, making him feel that he wouldn't fully feel right again until he saw her, knew she was well and thriving. Something in the pit of his stomach knew the reason why, but he refused to give the thought relevance yet. Within five days of receiving his transmission, here she was, but he was pensive, allowing her to engage with his son while he fought to admit why he had asked her to come back.

Luke grunted happily as Ahsoka shook one of his toys above him, the infant reaching up for the brown speckled plastic rattle shaped like a shaak, and though he couldn't quite squeal with laughter yet, Anakin was certain his son would be doing just that every time the toy flew just out of his reach.

"He's so happy," Ahsoka said, finally peeling her eyes away from the infant to regard Anakin. "He must get that from Padmé." She laughed at the indignant look on his face.

"Hey, I'm happy! I'm downright cheerful nowadays."

"Sure, Skyguy, sure," she shrugged, and the pair fell silent once more as Ahsoka returned her gaze to Luke.

"It's been too long, Ahsoka," he said with a faraway voice. She nodded in agreement.

"I know. I'm sorry, Anakin," she said, her voice laced with that determined tone she always adopted when she was about to reiterate something he already knew. Sighing in resignation, Ahsoka raised her eyes from Luke's smiling face to her former masters'. "But you know I had to leave. I couldn't have had any influence from you or any of the other Jedi, and…"

"I know, Ahsoka," he said calmly, cutting off any need for explanations, and Ahsoka let out a breath.

Silence reigned between them as they stared at each other, Luke looking forlornly at his shaak where Ahsoka held it absently just out of reach as Anakin gathered his thoughts. Quietly, he felt a probe against his mind, and he shored up his walls against his still impulsive, impatient friend. She was prying none to delicately, and he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms with an undignified huff. "Don't do that, Snips." She huffed right back.

"Then tell me why you asked me to come back, why you contacted me at all!" she burst. Anakin continued to avoid her direct gaze, glancing at her stubbornly from the corners of his eyes. Sensing the brewing tension, Luke's smile faded, and he stared up at the strange but loveable woman holding him apprehensively until Anakin finally sighed.

"I just wanted to see you."

"That's poodoo, and you know it."

His stare on the floor hardened at her admonishment as he stubbornly refused to look at her, and she sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm here." Her tone unexpectedly shifted as she looked at Luke once more. "I'm so glad," she cooed to him, tickling his chubby face and neck, and he wriggled happily against her touch, "yes I am!" Anakin unclenched his jaw and allowed a small smile to crack his façade at his sons' happy noises. Ahsoka lifted her eyes. "But there's no way that you would have asked me to come back to Coruscant unless it was something big."

Anakin sighed and schooled his expression once more. _Kark_ , she could still read him so well. He clenched his jaw as Ahsoka patiently turned her attention back to Luke, though she kept one very observant eye open for any movement he made. His mind raced as he tried to calm his nervous energy, attempting to shield his racing heart from his children and guest, while also struggling with his sudden clamped throat. Why exactly had he asked her to come? Why had the Force compelled him to seek her out if not only to see an old friend? The sinking feeling in his stomach as he pondered his lightsaber, still hanging from his leather-clad hip, useless, told him everything, and he glanced at Ahsoka, who still played quietly with Luke.

"So, how's Padmé?" It was asked with complete nonchalance and pure, genuine curiosity, but Anakin felt himself relax as his former padawan shifted her attention away from him. Lifting his head, Anakin glanced in the general direction of Padmé's home office.

"She's working to put the Senate back together," he said with a slight chuckle. "Apparently she, Bail Organa, and Senator Mothma have nominated each other to succeed Palp… Sidious." The sound of the Sith's name on his lips sent shivers down both their spines, and they glanced away from each other as a cold discomfort washed over them.

"Sounds incredibly boring," Ahsoka stated plainly, pulling another chuckle from his loosening throat. Chancing a short look at her, Anakin shook his head thoughtfully.

"I don't think Padmé's going to accept it. She likes being a senator, and these two keep us busy enough as it is." Ahsoka nodded.

"Who do you think will get it then?" Anakin shrugged.

"There's so much upheaval at the moment with the Separatists still making trouble, anyone'd be lucky to be a clear choice. I think Padmé wants Bail, though they're not the only ones with nominations out there."

"I thought they would have dealt with the Separatists by now." Anakin glanced at her.

"Like I said, the Senate's a mess, not that it wasn't before. Sidious had too much power, too much control, and too many people agreed with him. I don't think anyone knows when it'll be over." He huffed a breath as he pictured his wife, hunched over some bill or statement in her office, segregated from the happiness of the living quarters, from him and her babies, and his face hardened. "I don't know why she stays sometimes."

He felt a soft touch on his tense shoulder, and Anakin suddenly realized how strongly his arms had been clenched. He met Ahsoka's blue eyes and released his breath, his anxiety, and his frustration over what his wife currently had to deal with. "I'm happy the Queen let her keep her position, but it's so hard when I can't do anything to help her."

Anakin dropped his gaze from Ahsoka's again, unexpected feelings of fear, nervousness, and worry seeping slowly into his countenance as his eyes landed on his sleeping princess, breathing softly in and out contentedly, oblivious to her father's anxieties. He filled his lungs, closed his eyes, and released his breath.

"I left, Snips."

"I know."

His head shot up, and he regarded Ahsoka's understanding look. She laughed, and he closed his mouth and clenched his jaw, not realizing it had fallen open at her unexpected statement. She shook her head, still giggling. "Master, if you were still in the Order, I wouldn't be here holding your _son_ talking about your _wife_."

He finally allowed her smile to fully ignite his own. "Don't get snippy with me, Snips." They chuckled together as remembered moments spent fighting, planning, and bantering side by side sprung to each other's minds. It had been two, almost three years since they had last been together like this, and it made Anakin's heart ache that he had been too engrossed with what was immediately happening around him to realize how much he had missed Ahsoka's friendship.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked with much more caution than he had been expecting as she lowered Luke gingerly into his bassinet, placing the rattle on his chest where he could entertain himself to his heart's content. Anakin smiled adoringly as his son grasped one of the stubby legs of his toy and shook, delighting in the muffled rattling of the contents held within before bringing the shaak to his mouth, loosely sucking on the smooth plastic. Satisfied with his son's content, Anakin looked up at Ahsoka, who was waiting patiently, his former apprentice realizing that this was something that, until now, he had held tightly guarded to his chest.

Anakin held her gaze, searching her expressive, inquisitive blue eyes so like his own for something he found difficult if almost impossible to see in anyone else's: kinship. With kinship came understanding, and with understanding came acceptance, something Anakin had only truly felt completely in his wife's presence, something he thought he had finally found within the gilded walls of the Temple. But, unlike the feeling of acceptance his wife gave him every day, he was hoping that Ahsoka could give him what Padmé never could, and that was the understanding of someone who had already been through what he now found himself facing. He found that even describing the overwhelming darkness he had seen in his Force given visions hadn't been as hard as hoping, yearning for someone to understand where he now stood.

"What have you heard about Sidious?" he asked, deciding that taking his explanation slowly might help calm his racing heart as he worked towards admitting his deepest fears not only to himself, but to someone who used to call him "Master."

Ahsoka quirked a brow at him, but answered anyway. "Just what the holonet reported, that the Jedi had uncovered him as a Sith, and that you were sent to kill him."

"That's not…" Anakin paused and sighed, annoyed at how much the media was glossing over what was quickly becoming the most traumatic experience of his life, even more so than feeling the life leave his mother as he held her in his arms. "That's not how it happened. I wasn't supposed to be there at all, Ahsoka." She nodded, continuing her patient vigil for his story. "Sidious… revealed himself to me, tried to convince me that the Dark Side was more powerful than the Jedi way, but I told Master Windu that he was the Sith Lord. Master Windu told me to stay behind, but I disobeyed and went after him. I saved Master Windu's life and killed Sidious."

He glanced up at Ahsoka, and her face was a knot of confusion. "But, that's good, right? You destroyed the Sith."

"They made me a Master."

Her entire face opened into a look of bewilderment, brows raised, eyes wide, mouth searching for the right words. It only lasted a moment at the hardened resolve in his own face, and Ahsoka composed her expression. He knew he was leaving out an incredible amount of detail, but, as resilient as Ahsoka was, he knew she didn't yet need to know the darkest of what he had faced. Not yet. "A Master! Anakin, then why…?"

"It wasn't right, Ahsoka," he stated, so simply and softly, but the deep look darkening his eyes made her blink. "There are those on the Council who didn't want me to be a Master, who still don't trust me. No matter what I had done, experienced, and understood about the Force, I was still the outsider, let in only because they found me exceptional, and only wanting what they were willing to take from me. It just… wasn't right."

Ahsoka moved closer to him on the sofa, and Anakin's gaze softened at the empathetic expression she now held on her face. She knew what he wanted to say, what he was desperately clawing his way towards, and it made Anakin relieved that though much had changed with them, between them very little had.

"What did you do?" he asked quietly. "When you left, what did you do?"

The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that had been slowly growing heavier suddenly felt like permacrete as her eyes fell and focused on her hands briefly before beginning an aimless wander around the room as she spoke.

"Well, at first I didn't know what to do. I just knew that I needed to get off of Coruscant, give myself the space I needed between me and the Jedi. I managed to get on a refugee shuttle to Corellia, and I worked in a cantina for a while. Probably not the best idea I've ever had, but…" She trailed off sheepishly, and Anakin began feeling his heart pound even more. Ahsoka, at some seedy cantina on that smuggler ridden world; he did not like the sound of that at all. She met his gaze.

"After a year of hearing the holonet talking about nothing but you, I knew I needed to leave, get back in the fight however I could instead of doing nothing. I was able to charter a ride to Onderon. I thought that if Lux was still there that I could help the war effort, but the war in the Republic was the least of their worries. Things were still pretty ugly after the king was deposed, and Lux and the new government were trying to avoid another civil war. Things got… heated, and there were a few skirmishes here and there."

"I heard about that."

"But, really quickly I realized that being on the front lines wasn't where I needed to be either. I wasn't discovering anything new about myself that would help me with my connection to the Force. Fighting wasn't the answer."

Anakin chuckled. "How many times have I heard Padmé say that?"

Ahsoka smirked. "Probably more than you'd like, Skyguy." She laughed as he rolled his eyes and glared at her. "Anyway, I decided that what I needed was somewhere I've never been before, or at least I don't remember being. So, I went home to Shili. Saving that village from the Zygerrians…" Anakin growled low in his throat at the mention of the slavers, "… made me remember that I did have a home away from the Temple. I've been helping protect my people from the Separatists. It's quite quiet, actually; you would hate it, Master. But, I started teaching younglings self-defense, educating them about the galaxy, and, well, just blending in as best I could."

They both fell silent as she finished. It had indeed been a long time, Anakin reaffirmed for himself, as everything Ahsoka had told him sunk in. She had grown so much, experienced so much.

"Are you happy, Ahsoka?" He wasn't looking at her, but he felt her inch even closer to him, her boot brushing his as she did.

"Anakin, please look at me." He blinked and swallowed before complying with her very simple request. The look that greeted him was filled with everything he had been hoping for from the start of their first encounter in what felt like a lifetime. There was understanding, empathy, acceptance, and the overall feeling of looking into the eyes of someone who truly knew him. Kinship.

"Yes, Anakin, I am. And you will be, too." He bowed his head away from her gaze, reassuring as it was, feeling the overwhelming fear that refused to be controlled by rational thought consume the beat of his heart.

"I can't do what you did, Ahsoka," he stated firmly, standing heavily and beginning to pace as calmly as the little rational he was left with would allow, the piece that told him that both of his children were blissfully asleep and that he shouldn't wake them. "I've been a Jedi almost my entire life. I was never a youngling only living at the Temple before being chosen as a padawan, I was always a padawan. There's always been a new mission, some assignment for me to fulfill. I'd travelled the whole galaxy even before the war started, and it feels like I've never been still for more than a month or so."

He abruptly stopped pacing as Leia stirred, both he and his former padawan reigning in their feelings as the girl stretched, yawned, but then settled back down into her nap. Though his inner turmoil was still very prevalent, Anakin calmed his voice as he looked to Ahsoka, that patient expression that had once been his grounding point now beginning to send irritating tingles up his neck, as he feared that perhaps she might not understand after all. "I don't know what to do, Ahsoka," he finally confessed. "I'm afraid that I don't know how not to be a Jedi. I want nothing more than to be a good husband to Padmé, a good father to Luke and Leia, but without being a Jedi I don't know who I am."

"You're Anakin Skywalker!" Ahsoka shot back incredulously, yet her tone was laced with complete understanding as she stood as well. An inaudible, humorless snicker left his throat at her easy words, the simplicity of them playing directly into the insecurities that had been brought to the surface of his being as he had said his final words to the Council.

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that you're one of the best people I've ever known, Master." He huffed indignantly at her use of the word.

"You mean I'm one of the best _Jedi_ you've ever known." Ahsoka crossed her arms and set her feet, refusing to indulge in his anxieties anymore.

"No," she said firmly, but it was the quiet of her voice that caused him to stop fidgeting and look at her. He had expected her eyes to be fiery with defiance, but instead he saw a gentle spark that caught his attention and kept it. "It means that being a Jedi isn't what made me like you and look up to you, Anakin. You're kind, selfless, loyal, you can fix anything, and you make others want to be better than they are. At least, that's how you were to me."

He paused, the immense gravity of the compliments she paid him sinking in, but still they failed to quell his ultimate fear at what he had potentially given up. He ducked his head, focusing on his boots as he shifted back and forth on his feet, fighting to admit what he was most afraid of, but losing the battle all too quickly.

"What if I'm not enough?" he almost whispered. "What if all I was ever meant to be was a Jedi? What if I'm nothing without the Order?"

"Would you be nothing without them?" Ahsoka asked gently, her arm stretching towards the two bassinets. She pointed towards the back of the apartment. "Without her?" Anakin glanced at both his twins and reached out for where his wife was hard at work, doing what she loved without hindrance and with the greatest of devotion, and his heart slowed as he felt her presence soothe him.

"Yes," he said just as quietly.

Ahsoka dropped her arm, staring at him, and Anakin could feel how grown up his former student felt compared to him in this moment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, only opening them to look upon his precious twins again. "I left for them, Ahsoka," he said quietly, finally lifting his gaze to hers, and she glanced briefly at the infants, who slept so soundly. "The Council was never really going to accept my family, no matter how badly they wanted me to stay. But now I just… sometimes I wonder if my life was all just a waste."

"Have you talked to Padmé about this?" He hung his head and she sighed in knowing consternation.

"I wanted to see you first." He sighed. "I just wanted to know that you were all right."

Ahsoka smiled at him, and he suddenly felt very small, like a teenager being gently reminded about the years of wisdom their parents still had over them. "I'm doing really well, Anakin. I found my place outside the Order. You and Padmé will figure it out."

With that simple statement, a platitude coming from anyone else, Anakin felt the weight of his fears begin to lift, those that had been so strong since his meeting with the Council that he had kept them a secret from his own wife. As Ahsoka came towards him and wrapped her slender arms around his waist, Anakin couldn't help but return the embrace. He allowed his worry to be assuaged for the moment as he felt Ahsoka release the happiness and fulfillment she truly felt at her new life through their bond for him to experience. He knew that everything in his life as he grew farther and farther away from the Jedi was still uncertain, but suddenly he felt as though it wasn't as important as this moment with the one person who understood him completely.

He rested his cheek against the space between her horns, and his eyes caught sight of his unnoticed wife. Padmé stood just on the threshold of the living area, wordlessly watching former master and padawan with watery eyes, and he realized how much she had been privy to hear as she came out of her office for a break. She smiled affectionately at the pair, and their embrace broke as Leia woke from her nap and began to cry.

* * *

The shuddering in his body subsided and Anakin released a heavy, contented breath, feeling his wife's mussed curls flutter against his lips. He turned his head slightly and placed a light kiss against her ear before lifting his head from where it had been resting in the perfect curve at the juncture of her neck and shoulder made just for him. His blissfully sated eyes met her own and he smiled adoringly at how his heart sored as she gazed up at him with equal love. Untwining their hands that had remained locked above their heads, Anakin brought his down to cup Padmé's face and rested his forehead against hers, his eyes fluttering closed as her arms wrapped themselves securely around his shoulders, stroking his back, and he simply savored the feeling of complete calm, relaxation, and happiness he felt in this moment with her.

He sighed once more, humming with the release of air, and began peppering his wife's face with delicate, chaste kisses, switching from passionate to sweet as he always did, but this was somehow different. He was a new man, no matter how much of him remained the same, and though he couldn't help but continue to wonder about his future, his insightful padawan had reminded him how much it didn't matter so long as his wife and children were in his life. Padmé's arms squeezed his shoulders as he continued to lavish kisses upon her face, and one hand travelled upwards, threading through his loose waves to hold the back of his head, and he knew it was her own way of reminding him just how present she was and would remain.

He placed one last kiss on her cheek before finding her lips for a quick but meaningful kiss. Breaking away, he looked into her eyes and smiled. She brought the hand in his hair to his cheek, gently stroking his smooth skin as he continued to stare at her.

"I love you," he said quietly, his voice hitching as he declared his love for the amazingly tolerant, understanding woman who called him husband. She beamed at him.

"I love you too, Ani."

The intensity of his smile equaled her own as he placed one last lazy kiss to her lips before he rolled to his back, the cool sheets of their bed a stark contrast to his heated skin as he stared up at the ceiling, feeling his body deflate further and further into relaxation.

"Feel better?" he heard his wife ask with a hint of humor in her voice. He chuckled and turned to his side to face her, mirroring her new position on her side, head propped on her hand while her other arm provided modesty she only seemed to have in the aftermath. He suddenly narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"That was only to make me feel better?"

She blinked, and as she looked at him incredulously, the smirk he had fought so hard against cracked through his façade. Her eyes widened in mock indignity and he burst into a fit of laughter as she playfully smacked his bicep. She rolled her eyes as he continued to laugh deeply, trying and failing to hide her own mirthful smile.

"I hate you."

"You love me, Mrs. Skywalker," he said effortlessly, returning to his side and her eyes, "and you know it."

She was silent for a time, and Anakin's smile receded as he saw the thoughtful look that had taken over her countenance. He reached out, concerned, and took her hand that rest on the sheets, pulling her out of her sudden reflection. "Angel?" he asked. When her eyes met his, he couldn't name the powerful emotion that had caused her eyes to mist and her cheeks to flush.

"You called me Mrs. Skywalker," she said wistfully, and he blinked as he replayed his words in his head. He had never called her that before, had never felt as though he could, and it had become a force of habit to swallow the words he hadn't known that he had been so desperate to say aloud. A feeling of absolute freedom swept through his heart as the realization hit that he could now call her what he wished, that she could publically call him husband, and he could call her wife. His face lit up as the feeling overtook his whole body, and he could almost imagine himself humming with exhilaration as he gently cupped her cheek with his flesh hand.

"I guess I did. Do you have a problem with that?" She shook her head in vehement denial and smiled brightly.

"No," she affirmed. "I like it."

"Good." He smirked. "'Cause I've got a lot of time to make up for… Mrs. Skywalker."

She giggled as he stroked away the lone happy tear that escaped her eyes and she leaned into kiss him fervently, her fingers tunneling into his hair. Anakin wound the hand on her cheek through her dark tresses while he shifted to be flush against her as they deepened the kiss. He relished in the feel of her lips on his and the passion behind the act, so different from their sweet, chaste kisses shared as she brought him back to himself. This one spoke of a new life ahead, one together out of the shadows, a life they were both looking forward to very much.

Padmé broke away from the kiss first but kept her eyes closed as she cuddled further into Anakin's warm arms. He kissed the top of her curled head gently before fully enclosing her tightly in his embrace. They lay in silence, drinking each other in as they hadn't really done since he had returned home from the Outer Rim Sieges, when this whole ordeal had truly begun. Then, they had been reveling in the happiness that came not only with his homecoming, but also with her revelation that they were to be parents. Things had been even more direly uncertain with the birth of their unexpected children looming over their heads, threatening their life that had become, in its own way, painfully normal. But, that great weight had been lifted when Anakin made the most important choice of his life.

"Ahsoka's grown up so much, hasn't she?" Anakin nodded at his wife's statement.

"Yes, she has," he said. "I'm glad she's doing well." Padmé nodded against his chest.

"It was so good to see her."

They fell into silence once more, the ever-present traffic lights of Coruscant dancing across their dark room. Anakin found himself absently stroking his fingers lightly up and down Padmé's arm as he watched the shadows grow and fade like a whisper, and for once he truly relished the tranquility of their bedroom, which no longer felt like a crushing silence dripping with worries of war, or fear of loss. It seemed as though some complication had always haunted his steps, whether it was seeking Obi-Wan's hard-won acceptance when he first became his padawan, the certain war that loomed over his and Padmé's wedding night, or the frightening possibility that only the Dark Side could save his beloved wife. The overwhelming feeling of never amounting to anyone's expectations, regardless if they were what he desired for himself or not, had always been with him, but for the first time, Anakin felt a sense of peace and belonging that he had always been seeking, but hadn't felt in his whole life.

"Ani." He pulled himself from his musings and looked down at his wife's penetrating eyes. She swallowed, almost as if she were collecting her thoughts before she spoke. "Why didn't you tell me why you left the Jedi? I've been so worried about you."

He sighed, and suddenly he found it difficult to meet her gaze, choosing instead to take her hand that rested on his chest and run his fingers along hers.

"I don't know," he finally admitted, raising his blue eyes to her brown ones. The words suddenly felt lodged in this throat as she silently begged him to open up to her as she had done so many times before. He locked his lips and clenched his jaw. "You had enough to deal with." She huffed, pulled her hand lose from his aimless grasp and cupped his cheek.

"Ani, please." He lowered his eyes to the sheets and squeezed his eyes shut tight.

"I was afraid."

"Why?"

"I had just thrown away my whole life, Padmé," he stated, perhaps a bit too harshly, but, as always, she heard the incredible insecurities lacing his tone, and she stroked his cheek. He felt himself relaxing again under her warm gaze and gentle touch. "I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Ani, how could you leaving the Jedi for the sake of your family ever disappoint me?" She smiled at him compassionately, and his doubts began to recede even further into obscurity. If it was even possible, she shifted closer to him. "I know your whole life has been about being a Jedi, and if I'm honest, I'm sorry you left." He lowered his gaze again, only to have her soothing touch pull his eyes back to hers. "But, I also know that if being a Jedi, even one who is allowed to have a wife wasn't what you really wanted, then it was the right choice, and I will always stand by you for it." She cocked her head, her expression shifting from powerful to playful. "We'll just have to find something else for you to do."

"Stay at home dad might not be the worst thing in the world." Padmé smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well, you do have a lot of dirty diapers to catch up on, but even I know you'll need some kind of excitement besides chasing after the twins."

"If they're anything like me, that'll be plenty of excitement."

Their shared laughter at the daunting situation possibly facing them in the future as their children grew was interrupted by the beginnings of a sharp cry from down the hall. Anakin slowly released Padmé and sat up, his wife following suit as the parents listened for the telling tones that gave each twin away.

"It's Luke," Anakin said, reaching out towards the twins' nursery, seeking out the reason behind his son's unrest. "He's hungry." Padmé sighed and reached for her nightgown, lying forgotten beside the bed. She went to get up, but Anakin stopped her as he reached for his sleep pants, equally rumpled on the floor. "It's all right, Angel, I'll get him. You stay here." He stood, settled his pants over his hips, and was almost to the door when Padmé's voice paused him mid step.

"Leia will probably wake up with him. Bring them both in." Anakin smiled knowingly.

"All right."

He made his way silently but quickly to the nursery, the colorful mobiles still dancing moons and stars over each of his children's cribs, tinkling with an undefined melody. Anakin quickly glanced into Leia's to assess her state of wakefulness and almost immediately regretted it, for, as soon as she saw her father, his little princess' cries added to her brothers'. Sighing with a sheepish smirk, Anakin reached in and picked her up first before going to Luke's crib beside his sister's. Though Leia somewhat quieted at the feel of her father's warm skin against her body, Luke continued to squirm in hunger as Anakin deftly slid his arm underneath his son's tiny form and pulled him up onto his opposite shoulder.

"It's all right, Luke, here we go," he whispered to his screaming son, and he quickly reentered his bedroom. Padmé, now dressed and fully propped up for a feeding session, reached out for Luke as her husband brought the hungry infant to her side of the bed. He sat beside her on his side as she settled Luke into her arms and began feeding him, his cries quieting almost immediately as he held his mother's gaze while he ate.

"I swear he eats just like you."

Anakin smiled and chuckled contentedly as he continued to send soothing pulses though the Force for his daughter, who was surprisingly pliant and quieting under his touch. This was the moment he had been wanting from the day he had made his Angel his wife, the moment where he would be able to be with her unconditionally, no secrets, no deception, no lies. His heart warmed as Padmé glanced up at him briefly before turning back to Luke, and he looked down at Leia once more, kissing her head gently as he saw that she had returned to sleep in his arms, at least for the moment. For the first time, everything was right, and Anakin felt more at peace than he ever had since leaving Tatooine for a life unknown.

* * *

 **That's it! Thank you all again so much for reading, enjoying, following, favoriting, and reviewing my first foray into the world of** _ **Star**_ **Wars fanficiton in quite some time. This story has meant a lot to me as it and the characters continued to develop into so much more than I thought it was going to be. This Anakin has become so important to me, and he will always be with me.**


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